# FDA Drug Recalls Lookup — official openFDA API, no login (`pappy-dev/fda-drug-recalls`) Actor

Look up any pharmaceutical company's FDA drug recall history via the official openFDA API (api.fda.gov): recall reason, classification (Class I/II/III), affected product, initiation date, and status. CC0 licensed U.S. government data, no login, no proxies, no API key required.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/pappy-dev/fda-drug-recalls.md
- **Developed by:** [Backyard Tools](https://apify.com/pappy-dev) (community)
- **Categories:** Business, Other
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$1.00 / 1,000 fda recall record scrapeds

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## FDA Drug Recalls Lookup — official openFDA API, no login

Look up any pharmaceutical company's U.S. FDA drug recall history through **openFDA**
(`api.fda.gov`), the FDA's own official public API. No login, no proxies, no API key — this
reads the same structured JSON endpoint the FDA publishes for exactly this purpose.

CC0 1.0 licensed open data: free to use commercially, no permission or attribution required
(source: open.fda.gov/license/, open.fda.gov/terms/ — "you may copy, modify, distribute...
even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission", checked 2026-09-02).

### Tested (2026-09-02)

| Target | Records found |
|---|---:|
| `Pfizer` | 155 |
| (nonexistent company) | 0 (no charge) |

### FDA recalls API — input

```json
{
  "targets": ["Pfizer", "Johnson & Johnson"],
  "maxItems": 2000
}
```

Each target is a company name as it appears in FDA recall records (exact match on
`recalling_firm`). A company with no recalls on file simply returns 0 items (no charge).

### FDA recalls API — output fields

One dataset item per recall record:

| Field | |
|---|---|
| `recalling_firm` | company that issued the recall |
| `product_description` | the recalled product, as described by FDA |
| `reason_for_recall` | why it was recalled |
| `classification` | `Class I` (most serious) / `Class II` / `Class III` |
| `product_type` | e.g. `Drugs` |
| `recall_initiation_date` / `report_date` / `termination_date` | recall timeline |
| `status` | `Ongoing` / `Terminated` / `Completed` |
| `voluntary_mandated` | whether FDA-mandated or firm-initiated |
| `recall_number` | FDA's unique recall ID |
| `state` / `country` | where the recalling firm is located |
| `distribution_pattern` | where the product was distributed |

No personal data: these are company- and product-level recall records, not individual
patient or consumer data.

### Use Cases

- **Supply-chain risk monitoring**: check whether a supplier or vendor has an active
  Class I/II recall before you rely on them
- **Pharma M\&A due diligence**: pull a target company's full recall history in one batch
  call instead of manual FDA website lookups
- **Compliance/QA pipelines**: feed recall records as structured data into a risk
  dashboard or alerting system
- **Insurance/underwriting**: recall frequency and classification as a risk signal for
  pharma-sector policies

### Why this over FDA's own website

FDA's recall search is built for one lookup at a time in a browser. This actor runs a batch
of company names in one call and hands back structured rows — for pharma due-diligence,
supply-chain monitoring, or compliance pipelines that need this as data, not a web page.

### Pricing

Pay per event: **$1.00 per 1,000 recall records** collected. Nothing else.

# Actor input Schema

## `targets` (type: `array`):

リコールを行った企業名（例: Pfizer）。openFDA の recalling\_firm フィールドの完全一致検索。該当が無い企業は0件（課金なし）

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

1 run で取得する最大件数

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "targets": [
    "Pfizer"
  ],
  "maxItems": 2000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `items` (type: `string`):

取得した各件（type=item）と、選択した分析の結果（type=analysis）

## `overview` (type: `string`):

件数・平均評点・期間・ネガティブ比率（下側信頼限界つき）

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "targets": [
        "Pfizer"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("pappy-dev/fda-drug-recalls").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "targets": ["Pfizer"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("pappy-dev/fda-drug-recalls").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "targets": [
    "Pfizer"
  ]
}' |
apify call pappy-dev/fda-drug-recalls --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,pappy-dev/fda-drug-recalls"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/P92MKJTo4pjUb9I2Q/builds/sO8jZ1M5tMFjaAXMI/openapi.json