# FDA Drug Recall Monitor (`zeiphr/fda-drug-recalls`) Actor

Every drug recall the US FDA has published in a date window, one clean row per recall. Filter by seriousness, state, company and status.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/zeiphr/fda-drug-recalls.md
- **Developed by:** [Zeiphr](https://apify.com/zeiphr) (community)
- **Categories:** News, Business
- **Security:** Limited permissions
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$3.00 / 1,000 recall returneds

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?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## FDA Drug Recall Monitor

Returns every drug recall the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has published in a date window, one clean row per recall. You can narrow the list by how serious the recall is, the US state, the company and the recall's status. No coding and no account with the FDA is needed: press Start and read the table.

### Who it is for

- **Pharmacists and hospital buyers** who need to know quickly if a product on their shelf has been pulled.
- **Compliance and quality teams** at drug makers, wholesalers and distributors who track recalls as part of their job.
- **Journalists and researchers** looking for patterns, such as which companies recall most often, or what the common reasons are.

### What you can set

| Field | What it does |
| --- | --- |
| Days to look back | How many days back from today to search, by the date the FDA published each recall. Default 30. |
| From date / To date | Optional exact dates written YYYY-MM-DD. If you fill these in, "Days to look back" is ignored. Leaving "To date" empty means today. |
| Seriousness | `any`, `Class I`, `Class II`, `Class III` or `Not Yet Classified`. Class I means the product could cause serious harm or death. Class II means it may cause temporary or reversible harm. Class III means it is unlikely to cause harm. Not Yet Classified means the FDA has not yet decided how serious it is (common for very new recalls). |
| US state of the company | Two-letter code of the state where the recalling company is, for example `NJ`. |
| Company name | Only recalls from companies whose name matches this text, for example `Pfizer`. |
| Recall status | `any`, `Ongoing` (still in progress), `Completed` (the company finished it), `Terminated` (the FDA closed it) or `Pending`. |
| Maximum recalls to return | The most rows you want back. Default 200, up to 5000. It also caps what you pay. |

### What you get

One row per recall, with plain fields: recall number, dates, seriousness class, status, company, location, what the product is, how much was affected, why it was recalled, where it was sold, batch and lot details, brand and generic names, active ingredients, and a link to the original record. Anything the FDA did not provide is left empty (`null`).

Sample row (shortened):

```json
{
  "recallNumber": "D-0123-2026",
  "reportDate": "2026-10-14",
  "recallInitiationDate": "2026-09-22",
  "classification": "Class II",
  "status": "Ongoing",
  "recallingFirm": "Example Pharma Inc.",
  "city": "Newark",
  "state": "NJ",
  "country": "United States",
  "productDescription": "Example Tablets 10 mg, 100 count bottle",
  "productQuantity": "12,480 bottles",
  "reasonForRecall": "Failed dissolution specification",
  "distributionPattern": "Nationwide",
  "voluntaryMandated": "Voluntary: Firm initiated",
  "productType": "Drugs",
  "codeInfo": "Lot 12345, Exp 03/2027",
  "brandNames": ["Example"],
  "genericNames": ["EXAMPLE HYDROCHLORIDE"],
  "manufacturerNames": ["Example Pharma Inc."],
  "productNdc": ["12345-678"],
  "substanceNames": ["EXAMPLE HYDROCHLORIDE"],
  "eventId": "98765",
  "sourceUrl": "https://api.fda.gov/drug/enforcement.json?search=recall_number:%22D-0123-2026%22"
}
```

This sample is illustrative; real rows come straight from the FDA.

### Pricing

You pay US$0.003 per recall returned, and nothing when there are no matches.

### Limits

The FDA's service allows a limited number of requests per minute and per day for anonymous users, so this actor fetches politely, in pages of up to 1,000 recalls. Very large windows or thousands of rows take longer. If the FDA is busy, the actor waits and retries a few times before giving up with a clear message.

### Data source

Data comes from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's openFDA project (public domain). openFDA is not for clinical use and this actor is not affiliated with the FDA.

# Actor input Schema

## `days` (type: `integer`):

How many days back from today to look for recalls, based on the date the FDA published them. Ignored if you fill in both dates below.

## `dateFrom` (type: `string`):

First day to include, written YYYY-MM-DD (for example 2026-10-01). If you set a date here, the 'Days to look back' setting is ignored.

## `dateTo` (type: `string`):

Last day to include, written YYYY-MM-DD (for example 2026-10-31). Leave empty to mean today.

## `classification` (type: `string`):

The FDA sorts recalls into three classes. Class I: the product could cause serious harm or death. Class II: it may cause temporary or reversible harm. Class III: it is unlikely to cause harm. Not Yet Classified: the FDA has not yet decided how serious it is (common for very new recalls). 'any' returns all of them.

## `state` (type: `string`):

Two-letter US state code of the company that is recalling the product, for example NJ or CA. Leave empty for all states.

## `firm` (type: `string`):

Only return recalls from companies whose name matches this text, for example Pfizer. Leave empty for all companies.

## `status` (type: `string`):

Where the recall stands. Ongoing: still in progress. Completed: the company finished it. Terminated: the FDA closed it. Pending: not yet classified or started. 'any' returns all.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

The most recalls you want back. You are charged per recall returned, so this also caps your cost.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "days": 30,
  "classification": "any",
  "status": "any",
  "maxResults": 200
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

Every drug recall found, one per row, as a table.

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("zeiphr/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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("zeiphr/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 '{}' |
apify call zeiphr/fda-drug-recalls --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,zeiphr/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/99faT9hCqnWEwOieQ/builds/17Yac29KV3KkKw16Z/openapi.json