PlainRecalls

Browse Recalls

PlainRecalls indexes 83,949 federal recall records from the FDA, CPSC, NHTSA, and USDA FSIS. Browse the full archive by the dimension that matters most for your search — the agency that issued the recall, the product category, the firm responsible, or the year the recall was filed.

Methodology

PlainRecalls aggregates recall data from four U.S. federal agencies into a single searchable index. All records come directly from official government APIs — we do not use third-party aggregators. The index covers recalls from 1995 through the present, refreshed on a regular schedule. Browse pages reflect what each agency has published in its public enforcement feed.

How Browse Pages Are Built

  • Agencies: Sourced from the four federal recall authorities. Each agency's recall scope reflects its statutory jurisdiction — FDA covers food/drug/device, CPSC covers consumer products, NHTSA covers motor vehicles, USDA FSIS covers meat/poultry/egg products.
  • Categories: Normalized across four agency-specific classification systems. Because each agency uses different taxonomies, our category mapping introduces some imprecision — a borderline product may appear under a related category.
  • Manufacturers: Extracted from the recalling-firm field in each federal filing. Firms that changed names or were acquired may appear under multiple entries.
  • Years: Indexed by the date the recall was reported to the issuing agency. Agency amendments to historical recalls do not change the original filing year.

Data Sources

  • Source: FDA openFDA Enforcement API — food, drug, and medical device recalls
  • Source: CPSC Recalls API — consumer product recalls
  • Source: NHTSA Recalls API — vehicle safety recalls
  • Source: USDA FSIS recall notices — meat, poultry, and egg product recalls

For the full data collection, processing, and classification methodology, see /methodology.