Editor's Note: This story originally appeared on Trace One.
Potato salad with foreign plastic. Mixed greens with listeria exposure. Ice cream with metal fragments. Cookies with undeclared nut allergens. Dried pasta with mold contamination. These are just a few examples of food recalls issued by the U.S. federal government.
Food recalls frequently generate headlines and public concern because of their associated safety risks and health hazards. To help protect consumers, government officials have developed a system of regulation and oversight that identifies potentially unsafe products and issues recalls that get those products off of store shelves and out of consumers’ homes.
Both the USDA and the FDA distinguish between Class I, Class II, and Class III food recalls to signify the level of risk associated with each. Class I recalls are for the most hazardous products, which have higher risks of causing serious adverse health consequences or death, while Class II recalls have more moderate risks and Class III recalls have minimal risks.
Over the past few years, the number of food recalls issued by the two agencies has increased. From 2021 to 2025, the total number of recalls grew from 505 to 613, an increase of 21.4%.
Recalls are a nationwide concern, but some states are more vulnerable than others.
Following is a breakdown of food recalls by state. The analysis was conducted by researchers at Trace One using data from the USDA and FDA. Learn more about the methodology at the end.
1. California
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 38.3%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 1,010
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 37.2%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 408
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 17.5%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 420
2. New York
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 35.6%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 937
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 35.3%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 388
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 9.4%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 225
3. Texas
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 33.9%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 894
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 31.6%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 347
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 6.1%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 147
4. Pennsylvania
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 33.8%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 889
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 32.5%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 357
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 3.0%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 72
5. Illinois
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 33.4%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 880
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 30.9%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 339
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 4.5%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 108
6. Florida
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 32.0%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 842
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 30.1%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 331
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 5.1%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 123
7. Ohio
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 29.8%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 786
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 29.1%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 319
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 4.4%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 106
8. Georgia
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 29.2%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 770
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 28.1%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 309
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 1.9%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 46
9. New Jersey
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 28.4%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 748
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 28.9%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 317
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 5.0%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 121
10. Virginia
- Share of all recalls impacting state’s residents: 28.3%
- Total recalls impacting state’s residents: 745
- Share of Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 28.6%
- Total Class I recalls impacting state’s residents: 314
- Share of all recalls originating from state’s producers: 1.7%
- Total recalls originating from state’s producers: 40
Methodology
Data sources include the USDA’s Recalls & Public Health Alerts database as well as the FDA’s Enforcement Reports database. To calculate which states have been most impacted by food recalls in recent years, Trace One combined data on recall events from both sources for the years 2021–2025.
Each recall event was categorized based on its classification, reason for recall, location(s) impacted, and producer location. Recall events that were listed as national in scope were added to the totals of each state.
Due to the unstructured nature of the datasets, a combination of natural language processing and manual techniques was used to categorize recalls. As such, small discrepancies between the counts presented in this analysis and other published reports may exist.
Additionally, currently active recalls and estimates pertaining to producer locations are based on FDA data only, which account for over 90% of total recall events.
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