openFDA Recalls Scraper: Food, Drug, Device & 510(k)

What does openFDA Recalls Scraper do?

It returns FDA food recalls, drug recalls, medical device recalls and 510(k) device clearances as clean, consistent records. Each record carries the recall number, class, status, report date, recalling firm, product description, reason for recall and state, plus extra detail such as distribution pattern, lot codes, root cause and brand names where the FDA publishes them. Filters for keyword, recall class, state and date window keep runs small, and pricing is per result.

Data source

The official public openFDA API (api.fda.gov): the food and drug enforcement reports, the device recall database and the device 510(k) database, which the FDA refreshes weekly.

Why use it?

• Monitor recalls that touch your products, suppliers, brands or competitors, and push new ones to Slack or a sheet on a schedule.
• Find recalling firms and 510(k) applicants by state or product area for regulatory consulting, insurance, legal or supplier risk outreach.
• Research recall trends by class, root cause or product type without writing API queries.
• Replaces manual searching on fda.gov and hand paging through the raw API.

How to use it

1. Open the Actor and set the filters.
2. Click Start. Download results as JSON, CSV or Excel, or read them through the API.
3. Add a Schedule and an Integration (Slack, Google Sheets, webhook) to get new records automatically.

Input

Field	Description
datasets	Any of foodRecalls, drugRecalls, deviceRecalls, device510k. Default: the three recall datasets.
keywords	Match any term in product description, reason, firm and brand (device name and applicant for 510(k)). Empty means no keyword filter.
classification	Class I, Class II or Class III. Applies to food and drug recalls only.
state	Two letter US state code of the recalling firm or applicant.
daysBack	Only records reported or decided in the last N days. Default 365.
maxResults	Hard stop for the run, split evenly across the chosen datasets. You are billed per result, so this caps the cost.
proxyConfiguration	Optional. The API is public and normally needs no proxy.

Example input:

{
    "datasets": ["foodRecalls", "drugRecalls"],
    "keywords": ["listeria", "salmonella"],
    "classification": "Class I",
    "daysBack": 365,
    "maxResults": 100
}

Output

Every record has an id, a dataset and the fields below. Example food recall (trimmed):

{
    "id": "food:H-0939-2026:98993",
    "dataset": "foodRecalls",
    "recallNumber": "H-0939-2026",
    "classification": "Class I",
    "status": "Ongoing",
    "reportDate": "2026-06-17",
    "recallingFirm": "HH FRESH TRADING CORP",
    "productDescription": "HH Fresh Trading Corp. (branded) ENOKI MUSHROOM; Premium Quality; Net WT 150g",
    "reasonForRecall": "Imported Enoki Mushrooms tested positive for Listeria Monocytogenes.",
    "state": "CA",
    "eventId": "98993",
    "recallInitiationDate": "2026-05-11",
    "voluntaryMandated": "Voluntary: Firm initiated",
    "scrapedAt": "2026-10-05T08:35:00.802Z"
}

Field	Meaning
id	Stable key, safe for deduplication between runs
dataset	Which source the record came from
recallNumber / kNumber	FDA recall number, or 510(k) number for clearances
classification, status	Recall class and status (food and drug classes; all recalls have status)
reportDate / decisionDate	ISO date the recall was posted or the 510(k) was decided
recallingFirm / applicant	Company behind the recall or the clearance
productDescription / deviceName	What was recalled or cleared
reasonForRecall	Plain text reason
state, city	Location of the firm
rootCause, action, productCode, kNumbers	Device recalls only
decision, clearanceType, deviceClass, regulationNumber, advisoryCommittee	510(k) only

Pricing

Pay per event: a small fee when a run starts, then a fixed price per result returned. You only pay for records that pass your filters. Set maxResults to cap any run.

Limitations

• Drug label, adverse event and other openFDA endpoints are not included. Recalls and 510(k) only.
• The API returns at most 25,000 records per query, so use daysBack, state or keywords to narrow very large pulls.
• Recall class is not available for device recalls, and the classification filter is ignored for them.
• The FDA notes that openFDA data is unvalidated and must not be used for medical decisions.

FAQ

Is this legal? The Actor reads public data the FDA publishes through its open API for anyone without a login. You are responsible for how you use the data.

Something is missing or broken? Open an issue in the Issues tab; response time is usually under a day.