FDA Food Recalls Scraper

FDA Food Recalls Scraper pulls structured data from openFDA Food Enforcement and returns it as a clean dataset you can export as JSON, CSV or Excel. It searches the openFDA food enforcement database and returns one row per FDA food recall, with the recalling firm, product description, recall reason, classification, status, distribution pattern and key dates. Useful for food-safety monitoring, compliance checks and supply-chain risk feeds.

No API key, no login. Click Start and it works with the prefilled input.

What does FDA Food Recalls Scraper do?

It queries openFDA Food Enforcement and returns one row per record, with only the fields that matter. Runs on the Apify platform, so you get an API endpoint, scheduling, monitoring and integrations (Zapier, Make, Google Sheets, webhooks) without maintaining any infrastructure.

Why use it?

• openFDA Food Enforcement data without the plumbing: no proxy setup, no pagination code, no scraping maintenance.
• Schedule it to monitor changes daily or weekly and trigger alerts on new records.
• Feed it straight into a spreadsheet, database, or an AI agent via the Apify API or MCP server.
• Runs in seconds and returns a typed dataset that is ready for analysis.

How to use it

1. Click Try for free / Start.
2. Leave the default input to see a sample run, or type your own values (see Input below).
3. Press Start and wait a few seconds.
4. Open the Output tab and download as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML.

Input

Field	Type	Default	Description
searchQuery	string	"state:CA"	openFDA search expression, e.g. state:CA, classification:"Class I", reason_for_recall:listeria or recalling_firm:"kellogg".
maxResults	integer	20	Maximum number of FDA food recall records to return.

Example input:

{
  "searchQuery": "state:CA",
  "maxResults": 5
}

Output

One item per record. Sample:

{
  "recall_number": "F-0865-2017",
  "status": "Terminated",
  "state": "CA",
  "country": "United States",
  "city": "Millbrae",
  "product_description": "Koi Palace Mini Moon Cake"
}

You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

Data fields

Field	Type	Meaning
recall_number	string	Recall Number
status	string	Status
state	string	State
country	string	Country
city	string	City
product_description	string	Product
reason_for_recall	string	Reason
classification	string	Classification
recall_initiation_date	string	Initiated
distribution_pattern	string	Distribution
recalling_firm	string	Recalling Firm
report_date	string	Report Date
voluntary_mandated	string	Voluntary or Mandated
product_type	string	Product Type
event_id	string	openFDA Event ID

How much does it cost to run?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing: you pay per result item pushed to the dataset, and nothing for an empty run. Each run is a few seconds of compute, so typical costs are fractions of a cent per run, and the Apify free tier covers plenty of testing.

Tips and advanced options

• Raise maxResults for a bigger pull; the Actor pages through the source for you.
• Schedule it (e.g. every morning) and combine with a webhook to get only the new records.
• Add the Actor to an AI agent through the Apify MCP server for natural-language queries.

FAQ, disclaimers and support

• Is this legal? It uses publicly available data from openFDA Food Enforcement. You are responsible for how you use the data and for complying with the source's terms.
• It returned nothing? Use an openFDA search expression such as state:CA, classification:"Class I" or reason_for_recall:listeria. Leave blank to query everything.
• Something broken? Open an issue on the Actor's Issues tab. Data sources change and get fixed quickly.
• Need a custom variant (extra fields, a different source, a scheduled report)? Get in touch through the Issues tab.