Product Recall Checker for Brands, UPCs & Products

Product Recall Checker for Brands, UPCs & Products checks your watchlist of brands, products, UPCs and model numbers against the official U.S. recall feeds in one run: CPSC consumer products, FDA food, drug and medical-device enforcement reports, and NHTSA vehicle and equipment recalls. Each matching recall comes back as one clean row with the recalling firm, products, hazard, recall class or severity, UPCs and models, remedy, date, the official link, and which of your terms matched where, with a confidence score. Click Start with the prefilled watchlist to see real matches from the last 180 days in under two minutes.

A monitoring aid, not a compliance guarantee. Data comes from public government feeds, which can lag or be incomplete, and text matching can miss or wrongly match products. Always confirm on the official recall notice. Not affiliated with CPSC, FDA, NHTSA or USDA.

What does Product Recall Checker do?

• ✅ Searches 5 official feeds at once: CPSC recalls, FDA food, drug and device enforcement reports (openFDA), and NHTSA recalls. USDA FSIS (meat, poultry, eggs) can be turned on but is usually blocked by the agency's firewall (see Limitations)
• ✅ Matches brands and companies, product keywords, retailers, UPCs and model numbers; the type is detected automatically
• ✅ Gives each match a confidence: 0.95 when your brand is the recalling firm, 0.85 when it's in the recall title or product name, 0.55-0.65 when it's only mentioned in the text, plus exact UPC and model matches
• ✅ Handles real-world text: "Trader Joe's" vs "TRADER JOES", "Scotch™", UPCs with or without spaces and check digits, plurals for product keywords, and exclude terms ("peanut butter" but not "peanut butter cups")
• ✅ Down-weights ambiguous brand words (Apple, Dove, Gap, Target, Tide...) unless they appear as the firm or brand
• ✅ Returns one normalized row per recall: source, recallId, title, firms, retailers, products, hazard, reason, classification, severity, recallDate, url, upcs, models, affectedUnits, distribution, remedy, matchConfidence, matchedTerms[]
• ✅ Reads your product catalog from another Actor's dataset (brands and UPC/GTIN/EAN fields are picked up automatically)
• ✅ A SUMMARY record shows the date window, records checked per feed, any feed that was unreachable, and watchlist terms with no matches

Who is it for?

• 🛒 E-commerce sellers, retailers and marketplaces checking that nothing they list has been recalled
• 🏭 Brand owners and distributors watching their own and competitors' brands
• 🍽️ Restaurants, grocers and food distributors watching ingredients and suppliers
• 🛡️ Insurers, compliance and procurement teams screening supplier and product lists
• 🤖 Developers and AI agents that need one clean recall API across agencies

How to check products for recalls

1. Click Try for free or Start. The watchlist is prefilled with five brands and one product keyword.
2. Replace them with your brands, products, UPCs or model numbers in Watchlist, or add Watch items with options for types and excludes.
3. Set Look back (days): 365 for a first audit, 7 for a weekly schedule.
4. Click Start. Each matching recall becomes one row, newest first.
5. Schedule it weekly and connect email, Slack or Google Sheets to get alerts.

Input example

This is the prefilled input:

{
  "watchlist": [
    "Trader Joe's",
    "Costco",
    "Graco",
    "Scotch",
    "Apple"
  ],
  "watchItems": [
    {
      "term": "peanut butter",
      "type": "keyword"
    }
  ],
  "lookbackDays": 180,
  "maxResults": 25
}

UPCs, a model number and a product keyword with an exclude, last 30 days:

{
  "watchlist": [
    "0 41220 98765 2",
    "TL1302Z"
  ],
  "watchItems": [
    {
      "term": "peanut butter",
      "type": "product",
      "exclude": [
        "peanut butter cups"
      ],
      "label": "Ingredient watch"
    }
  ],
  "lookbackDays": 30
}

From a store or marketplace scraper's dataset:

{
  "datasetId": "YOUR_PRODUCT_DATASET_ID",
  "brandField": "vendor",
  "lookbackDays": 90,
  "minConfidence": 0.8
}

Output example

Real output from the prefilled input above (run on 2026-10-21, America/Chicago): 14 matching recalls. Here are all 14 at a glance:

Recall date	Source	Matched term (field)	Confidence	Title
2026-10-15	cpsc	Scotch (title)	0.85	3M Company Recalls Scotch™ Thermal Laminators Due to Risk of Serious I…
2026-09-17	cpsc	Costco (retailer)	0.6	Sauna360 Recalls Infrared Saunas, Hybrid Infrared Saunas and Infrared …
2026-09-03	cpsc	Costco (retailer)	0.6	Clorox Puerto Rico Recalls 6 Million Scented Mistolin and Lestoil Mult…
2026-08-20	cpsc	Costco (retailer)	0.6	Goal Zero Recalls YETI 3000X Power Stations Due to Serious Risk of Inj…
2026-08-17	fda_food	peanut butter (text)	0.65	PUMPKIN SPICE NO BAKE COOKIE NET WT 3.5 oz. INGREDIENTS: WHOLE GRAIN O…
2026-08-07	fda_food	Trader Joe's (product)	0.8	Tomato Salsa Fresca. Ingredients: Tomatoes, Yellow Onion, Red Onion, C…
2026-07-16	cpsc	Costco (retailer)	0.6	Panasonic Recalls Electric Toaster Ovens Due to Shock and Fire Hazards
2026-06-11	cpsc	Costco (title)	0.85	Arctic Zone Titan Pro Coolers Recalled Due to Risk of Serious Injury o…
2026-05-28	fda_drug	Costco (firm)	0.95	HALEON CALCIUM CARBONATE TUMS ANTACID, Assorted Fruit Tablets, 1000 mg…
2026-05-14	cpsc	Costco (firm)	0.95	World Bright International Limited Recalls Agio Menlo Woven Patio Swin…
2026-05-06	fda_food	peanut butter (text)	0.65	UPC 29604300000 SALMON WASABI GRILLED FS COLD This is Al…
2026-04-15	fda_food	peanut butter (product)	0.8	Banana Ice Cream - 32 oz (4 labels: Mollie Stone's; Dehoff's; Farmer J…
2026-04-06	fda_food	Costco (firm)	0.95	Kirkland Signature Traditional Madeleines 12 Count/net wt. 18oz., Item…
2026-03-11	fda_food	Costco (title)	0.9	Costco Service Deli Department 63 MEATLOAF SEASONING MORE FLV Pack Siz…

Two of those rows in full, untrimmed:

[
  {
    "source": "cpsc",
    "recallId": "27024",
    "recallNumbers": [
      "27024"
    ],
    "title": "3M Company Recalls Scotch™ Thermal Laminators Due to Risk of Serious Injury or Death from Fire Hazard",
    "firms": [
      "3M Company"
    ],
    "retailers": [
      "Amazon.com from June 2024 through September 2026 for between $44 and $56."
    ],
    "products": [
      "Scotch™ Thermal Laminators"
    ],
    "productTypes": [
      "Business and Office Machines"
    ],
    "hazard": "The recalled thermal laminators can overheat, posing a fire hazard.",
    "reason": null,
    "classification": null,
    "status": null,
    "recallDate": "2026-10-15",
    "reportDate": "2026-10-15",
    "url": "https://cpsc.gov/Recalls/2027/3M-Company-Recalls-ScotchTM-Thermal-Laminators-Due-to-Risk-of-Serious-Injury-or-Death-from-Fire-Hazard",
    "upcs": [],
    "models": [],
    "affectedUnits": "About 53,634",
    "distribution": null,
    "remedy": "Consumers should stop using and unplug the recalled thermal laminators immediately and contact 3M Company to receive a full refund. Consumers will be asked to fill out the online recall registration form at https://www.scotchbrand.com/3M/en_US/scotch-brand/tl1302Z-laminator-recall/, confirm that their laminator is included in the recall and upload a photograph of the laminator with the unplugged power cord cut. The refund, in the form of a check, will be mailed to the consumer upon receipt of the completed form and confirmation that the laminator's power cord has been cut. Consumers should dis",
    "countries": [
      "China"
    ],
    "severity": "high (per hazard text)",
    "matchConfidence": 0.85,
    "matchedTerms": [
      {
        "term": "Scotch",
        "type": "brand",
        "label": null,
        "field": "title",
        "matchedText": "Scotch",
        "confidence": 0.85,
        "context": "3M Company Recalls Scotch™ Thermal Laminators Due to Risk of Serious Injury..."
      }
    ],
    "sourceName": "U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) recalls",
    "windowStart": "2026-04-24",
    "windowEnd": "2026-10-21",
    "disclaimer": "Matches come from public U.S. government recall feeds (CPSC, FDA enforcement reports via openFDA, NHTSA, and USDA FSIS when reachable) for the date window shown. Coverage is not complete and is not a compliance guarantee: feeds lag, some agencies were unreachable (see SUMMARY), and text matching can miss or wrongly match products. Always confirm on the official recall notice."
  },
  {
    "source": "fda_food",
    "recallId": "FDA-food-event-98734",
    "recallNumbers": [
      "H-0682-2026"
    ],
    "title": "Kirkland Signature Traditional Madeleines 12 Count/net wt. 18oz., Item #2000012, UPC 000020000127. Plastic clamshell container is packed with 9 pieces of Filled...",
    "firms": [
      "Costco Wholesale Corporation"
    ],
    "retailers": [],
    "brands": [],
    "products": [
      "Kirkland Signature Traditional Madeleines 12 Count/net wt. 18oz., Item #2000012, UPC 000020000127. Plastic clamshell container is packed with 9 pieces of Filled Heart Madeleines.  Distributed by Costco Wholesale Corp. Seattle, WA.   Label of recalled package is read in part: TRADITIONAL MADELEINES**"
    ],
    "productTypes": [
      "Food"
    ],
    "hazard": null,
    "reason": "Undeclared hazelnut and soy lecithin.",
    "classification": "Class I",
    "status": "Terminated",
    "recallDate": "2026-04-06",
    "reportDate": "2026-04-29",
    "url": "https://api.fda.gov/food/enforcement.json?search=event_id:%2298734%22&limit=100",
    "upcs": [
      "000020000127"
    ],
    "models": [],
    "affectedUnits": "92 units",
    "distribution": "Distributed in CA, CO, FL, IL, MT, VA, WA, WI, and in Puerto Rico.",
    "remedy": null,
    "firmLocation": "Issaquah, WA, United States",
    "severity": "high",
    "matchConfidence": 0.95,
    "matchedTerms": [
      {
        "term": "Costco",
        "type": "brand",
        "label": null,
        "field": "firm",
        "matchedText": "Costco",
        "confidence": 0.95,
        "context": "Costco Wholesale Corporation"
      }
    ],
    "sourceName": "U.S. FDA food enforcement reports (openFDA)",
    "windowStart": "2026-04-24",
    "windowEnd": "2026-10-21",
    "disclaimer": "Matches come from public U.S. government recall feeds (CPSC, FDA enforcement reports via openFDA, NHTSA, and USDA FSIS when reachable) for the date window shown. Coverage is not complete and is not a compliance guarantee: feeds lag, some agencies were unreachable (see SUMMARY), and text matching can miss or wrongly match products. Always confirm on the official recall notice."
  }
]

No recalls in the window matched "Graco" or "Apple". Note how the ambiguous word "Apple" did not match the many recalls that mention apples. For FDA reports, recallDate is when the firm started the recall and reportDate is when FDA published it; the look-back window uses the report date.

How much does it cost to check for recalls?

This Actor uses pay-per-event pricing:

• $0.006 per matched recall (one result row per recall that matches your watchlist)
• a tiny Actor start fee of $0.00005 per run
• plus the small Apify platform usage of the run, paid by you. The prefilled example used about $0.0008 (256 MB, 30-70 seconds, mostly waiting for the agency feeds).

Checking produces no charge when nothing matches, so a weekly watchlist run with no new recalls costs a fraction of a cent. The prefilled example (14 matches) costs about $0.085. Use Max matched recalls or Apify's maximum cost per run to cap spend.

Use it through the API, integrations or AI agents

• API: POST https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/ultimatemc~product-recall-matcher/run-sync-get-dataset-items with your Apify token and the input JSON as the body. Client libraries for JavaScript and Python are on the API tab.
• AI agents (MCP): add https://mcp.apify.com?tools=ultimatemc/product-recall-matcher to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or any MCP client, so your agent can ask "has this product been recalled?" as a tool. See Apify MCP server.
• Chain it after a scraper: pass a store or marketplace scraper's datasetId, or trigger this Actor with a webhook.
• Automation: schedule runs and connect webhooks, Make, Zapier, n8n, Slack, email or Google Sheets from Apify Console.

FAQ

Which recalls are covered?

U.S. federal recalls from CPSC (consumer products), FDA enforcement reports for food, drugs and medical devices, and NHTSA vehicle, tire, child-seat and equipment recalls. FDA enforcement reports include recalls that never got a press release.

Is a "no match" result proof my product is safe?

No. Feeds lag, product names in recalls vary, and some recalls are written without a brand name or UPC. Treat it as a screen and confirm with the agencies or your supplier.

How accurate is the matching?

Exact UPC and model matches are very reliable. Brand matches are reliable when the brand is the recalling firm (confidence 0.95). Mentions inside long descriptions (0.55-0.65) need a quick human check. Raise Minimum match confidence to 0.8 for fewer, stronger matches.

Do I need API keys?

No. An optional free openFDA key only helps if you run very often.

Does it use AI?

No. Matching is deterministic text, UPC and model matching, so results are repeatable and every match shows the exact text that matched.

Limitations

• U.S. federal feeds only (no state, Health Canada or EU Safety Gate recalls).
• USDA FSIS (meat, poultry and egg products) currently refuses automated requests, so it's off by default. If you turn it on and it's refused, the run continues and SUMMARY says so; we don't try to get around the block.
• Feed coverage and timing are set by each agency: FDA enforcement reports are often published weeks after a recall starts, and CPSC UPC data is often empty.
• Text matching can produce false positives (a retailer listed as "sold at") and misses (a brand spelled differently). The matchedTerms field shows why each row matched.

Data sources

All public U.S. government data, read live at run time (so it is as current as each agency's feed):

• CPSC Recalls API (SaferProducts.gov), U.S. public domain
• openFDA enforcement reports for food, drugs and devices, public domain (CC0) per openFDA's terms; FDA enforcement reports are typically weekly
• NHTSA recalls dataset on data.transportation.gov, U.S. public domain
• USDA FSIS recall API, optional (often blocked for automated clients)

Data and privacy

Only public government recall data is read. Your watchlist and catalog are used only during the run, and results go only to your own Apify dataset.

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Got a false match or a missed recall? Open an issue on the Issues tab with the recall link and your term, and we'll review it.