FDA Recalls: food, drug and device recalls by search term

US product recalls from openFDA by search term, category, class, state and date: product, reason, firm, classification, status, quantity, distribution, lot codes and dates, from the FDA's official enforcement reports. Up to 50 searches a run. Pay per recall.

Why this scraper

• Only delivered results are charged. Inputs that fail come back as clear error records at no cost.
• Straight from openFDA, the FDA's own API over its weekly enforcement reports, the source every recall tracker copies from. Measured on the platform: 300 food recalls for two search terms in 10 seconds for a quarter of a cent.
• One search covers the product description, the reason and the firm name at once, over food, drugs and devices, so "listeria", "insulin pump" or a company name each work without knowing which field the FDA put it in.
• Every row is complete: recall number, class (I, II, III), status, product, reason, recalling firm with city, state and country, quantity, distribution pattern, lot codes and best-by dates, how the firm notified customers, the initiation, classification, report and termination dates, the event id that groups products of one recall, and a link to the FDA record.
• Filters on class, US state and report date; newest first with a per-search ceiling, so a daily run returns only what is new.

Who this is for

Put search terms in queries (up to 50 per run; * lists everything that matches the other filters), choose categories (food, drug, device; default all), optionally classifications, states, sinceDate (YYYY-MM-DD) and maxRecallsPerQuery (default 100). Built for food safety and quality teams, pharma and medical device compliance, retailers and distributors that check what they stock, insurers, and journalists covering recalls.

Who this is not for

This is the FDA's enforcement report: US recalls only, and a recall appears here when the FDA classifies it, which can be days to weeks after the firm's own announcement; for same-day press releases use the FDA newsroom. USDA-regulated meat and poultry recalls are not in openFDA. The recalling firm's street address is not copied (city, state and country are). Without your own key the FDA allows 1,000 requests a day per IP address; a run of 50 searches over three categories uses at most 150 plus paging, and apiKey lifts the limit for heavy use.

Input fields

Field	Type	Required or default	What it does
queries	list of text	required	One search per row, up to 50: words in the product description, the reason or the firm name, for example listeria or insulin pump. An asterisk lists everything that matches the other filters.
categories	list of text		food, drug or device. Empty means all three.
classifications	list of text		Class I (serious), Class II or Class III. Empty means every class.
states	list of text		Two-letter codes of the recalling firm's state, for example CA, TX. Empty means every state and country.
sinceDate	text		Only recalls with a report date on or after this date (YYYY-MM-DD). Empty means no date limit.
maxRecallsPerQuery	number	100	Cost ceiling per search and category, newest first.
apiKey	text	your own key	Your own free key from open.fda.gov raises the FDA's limit from 1,000 to 120,000 requests a day. Leave empty for small runs.

Input example

{
    "queries": [
        "listeria",
        "undeclared peanut"
    ],
    "categories": [
        "food"
    ],
    "maxRecallsPerQuery": 100
}

Output example

Field	Type	What it holds	Example
recallNumber	text	The FDA's number of the recall, for example H-1271-2026; H is food, D drugs, Z devices.	H-1150-2026
category	text	food, drug or device, the openFDA endpoint the recall came from.	food
classification	text	Class I is a reasonable probability of serious harm, Class II temporary or reversible harm, Class III unlikely harm.	Class I
recallStatus	text	Ongoing, Completed or Terminated as the FDA marks the recall.	Terminated
productDescription	text	The product as the firm describes it, often with sizes and package codes.	High Valley Orchard Chocolate Covered Raisins, net wt. 15...
reasonForRecall	text	Why the product was recalled, in the firm's or the FDA's words.	Undeclared Peanut. High Valley Orchard Chocolate Covered...
recallingFirm	text	The company that recalls.	Lehi Valley Trading Company, Inc
city	text	The city of the recalling firm as the FDA records it.	Mesa
state	text	The firm's US state as a two-letter code; empty for foreign firms.	AZ
country	text	The country of the recalling firm; foreign firms recall in the US too.	United States
productQuantity	text	How much product is affected, as the firm reports it (cases, units, bags).	624 plastic 15oz tubs: 585 lbs total
distributionPattern	text	Where the product went, in the firm's words: states, nationwide, countries.	Nationwide, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas
codeInfo	text	Lot numbers, best-by dates and UDIs that identify the affected units.	Lot # 0160933 Best by date of Jan 23, 2027
voluntaryMandated	text	Whether the firm recalled on its own initiative or the FDA mandated it.	Voluntary: Firm initiated
initialFirmNotification	text	How the firm first told its customers: letter, e-mail, press release, phone.	E-Mail
recallInitiationDate	text	When the firm started the recall.	2026-06-24
centerClassificationDate	text	When the FDA assigned the class; empty until it does.	2026-07-07
reportDate	text	When the recall appeared in the FDA's weekly enforcement report; the rows are sorted on this.	2026-07-15
terminationDate	text	When the FDA closed the recall; only on terminated recalls.	2026-09-04
eventId	text	The FDA event number shared by all products in the same recall event.	99324
brandNames	list	Brand names from the FDA's product database, mostly for drugs and devices; empty when the FDA has no match.
url	text	The recall on the FDA's enforcement report site.	https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/index.cfm?Pro...
query	text	The search term this row was found with.	undeclared peanut

Error codes: INVALID_QUERY, NO_RESULTS, BLOCKED.

One delivered row looks like this:

{
  "recallNumber": "H-1271-2026",
  "category": "food",
  "classification": "Class II",
  "recallStatus": "Ongoing",
  "productDescription": "Marketside Tomato Bisque Soup Kit, Tomato Bisque with Cheese Croutons & White Cheddar Cheese, Ready to Heat, Net Wt. 14 OZ (397g), with UPC 1 94346474004. Must Keep Refrigerated.",
  "reasonForRecall": "Product had a presumptive positive test result for Listeria monocytogenes",
  "recallingFirm": "CUISINE, KETTLE",
  "city": "Savage",
  "state": "MD",
  "country": "United States",
  "productQuantity": "540 cases",
  "distributionPattern": "The recalled product was distributed to the following States: IL, NV, NM, CA, OK, TX, PA, OH, NC, NY, GA, and AR.",
  "codeInfo": "Best By/ Use By: 8/22/2026",
  "voluntaryMandated": "Voluntary: Firm initiated",
  "initialFirmNotification": "E-Mail",
  "recallInitiationDate": "2026-08-11",
  "centerClassificationDate": "2026-08-26",
  "reportDate": "2026-09-02",
  "terminationDate": null,
  "eventId": "99690",
  "brandNames": [],
  "url": "https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/ires/index.cfm?Product=H-1271-2026",
  "query": "listeria",
  "status": "ok"
}

Related actors from steadydata

• eu-safety-gate: the EU's product safety alerts, the European counterpart
• google-news: press coverage of a recall or a firm
• sec-edgar-filings: what a listed firm told investors about it

Pricing

Pay per event: one recall-listed event per delivered result. No charge for inputs that fail, no separate platform-usage surcharge.

Free Apify plan: this actor delivers up to 25 rows per run for accounts on the Apify free plan, and then stops with a message. That limit is set by us, not by Apify. It exists so the actor keeps paying for itself for the people who do pay. Any paid Apify plan runs it at full size, billed per delivered row, with failed rows never charged.

Reviews: if this actor saves you time, a short review on this page is the one thing that helps most. Ratings are what other buyers look at first, and we have no other way to ask.

FAQ

Is personal data collected? No. Rows carry the recalling company, its city, state and country, and the product; the street address in the FDA record is not copied.

How do I get only new recalls every week? Run with sinceDate set to last week's date and * as the search term with your categories or classes. Searches with nothing new come back as a free NO_RESULTS row.

What do Class I, II and III mean? The FDA's severity: Class I is a reasonable probability of serious harm or death, Class II temporary or medically reversible harm, Class III unlikely to cause harm. Filter on classifications to keep only Class I.

Why does one event have several rows? Because the FDA lists one row per product in a recall; a firm that recalls twelve flavours gets twelve rows with the same eventId. Group on it to count events instead of products.

Do I need an API key? Not for normal use. The FDA allows 1,000 requests a day per IP without one; a free key from open.fda.gov raises that to 120,000 and is passed through apiKey for heavy daily runs.

What does a run cost when a search finds nothing? Nothing. NO_RESULTS, INVALID_QUERY and BLOCKED rows are free; only delivered recalls are charged.

What happens when the source changes? Sources change from time to time; that is the nature of this work. The actor is monitored daily and fixed fast, and while it is broken you are not charged, because only delivered results cost anything.