What to do when your food is recalled

A food recall is a matching exercise before it is anything else. The notice names a product, a package size, a lot or date code, often a UPC, and the states or stores the product went to. If your package matches, the rest of the steps are short and the agencies spell them out. If it does not match, nothing on the notice applies to you, however familiar the brand.

Which agency, and why it matters

Two agencies recall food. The Food and Drug Administration covers most of what is in a kitchen: produce, dairy, packaged and frozen foods, seafood, supplements and pet food. The Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service covers meat, poultry and processed egg products, which carry the round USDA mark of inspection with an establishment number inside it. FSIS notices identify the product by that number, together with the product name, package dates and the states the product was shipped to, and the FSIS recall page lists them with a status of active or closed.

Both agencies sort recalls by risk. FSIS calls Class I "a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death", Class II a remote probability of adverse consequences, and Class III a situation where use will not cause adverse consequences or the risk is negligible. The FDA's three classes are defined almost identically, and how FDA recall classes work sets them out. FSIS also issues public health alerts, used when a recall cannot be requested, for instance when the product is no longer available for sale but may still be in freezers.

Step one: match the package

Check every identifier on the notice against the package, not just the name. Lot codes and "best by" dates are usually printed near the seal or on the bottom; the UPC is the barcode number. A recall of one flavour or one size does not cover the others, and a recall of a single production run does not cover the same product bought at a different time. The food recalls tracker lists the current notices with those identifiers.

Step two: do not eat it, and do not test it

If the package matches, stop. The government's own guidance at foodsafety.gov is explicit: do not eat the product, and do not open it to see whether it looks or smells wrong. Contamination with Listeria, Salmonella or E. coli is invisible, and an undeclared allergen tastes like the food it is in. Return the product to the place of purchase for a refund, or dispose of it following the instructions in the recall notice so that nobody else can eat it.

Step three: the refund

Both agencies' notices carry the company's instructions and a contact number, and returning the product to the store for a full refund is the normal remedy; the FDA's consumer guide says recalled products can often be returned to the store where they were purchased. Some companies ask for a photo of the lot code and offer a refund by mail or a coupon instead. A receipt is helpful but rarely required for a recalled food.

Step four: clean the kitchen

This is the step most people skip. Foodsafety.gov notes that a product recalled for a possible germ contamination can leave those germs on kitchen surfaces, including refrigerator drawers and shelves. If a recalled item was stored or prepared in your kitchen, throw the food out, wash the surfaces, containers and utensils it touched with hot soapy water, and sanitize the refrigerator shelves and drawers. The site has a dedicated guide to cleaning a refrigerator after a recall.

If someone is ill

Contact a health care provider, particularly for young children, older adults, pregnant women and anyone with a weakened immune system, who are the people the Class I definitions are written for. The FDA's guide asks consumers who believe a product made them ill to report it, and FSIS runs its own hotline for meat and poultry complaints. Keep the packaging if you can; the lot code is what investigators need.

Recalls you never hear about

Most recalls do not get a press release. The FDA's weekly Enforcement Report and the FSIS recall list carry every one, including small regional recalls of a single lot that reached a handful of stores. Checking the tracker when a product tastes or looks wrong, or when an illness follows a meal, is often how those come to light.