Undeclared sesame in FDA food recalls

169 FDA food recall records since 2012 name undeclared sesame, out of 7,778 undeclared allergen recalls in total. 61 are Class I. Data last updated 2 September 2026.

Records of 29,386

169

Share of all recalls

0.6%

Class I of 169

61

Reported between

2014 to 2026

Sesame as a major food allergen

Sesame became the ninth major food allergen in the United States on 1 January 2023 under the FASTER Act, which is why recall counts naming it rise sharply from that date rather than because more products contain it.

These records are a subset of the 7,778 undeclared allergen recalls. A single recall frequently names more than one allergen, so the counts across this family overlap. An undeclared allergen recall means a food contained one of the major allergens and the label did not say so, either because the wrong label was applied or because an ingredient carried an allergen nobody traced.

What is different about these records

By product, Sesame is weighted toward bakery: 34.3% of the records here against 12.9% across the corpus.

A recall involving undeclared sesame stays open a median of 74 days between the report and termination, against 215 days for the corpus as a whole. Termination follows the firm accounting for every unit of the affected lot.

These recalls stay local: 5.9% state nationwide distribution, against 20.7% across the corpus.

The volume is rising: 112 records in the three years to 2025, against 26 in the four before them. A rise in records is not the same as a rise in hazards.

What the FDA says

What the law says about sesame

Sesame is the ninth food in 21 U.S.C. 321(qq)(1), added by the FASTER Act, which the FDA records as signed on April 23, 2021 and effective January 1, 2023. From that date every requirement that applies to a major food allergen, the declaration under section 343(w) and the allergen preventive controls of 21 CFR 117.135, applied to sesame. Product already in interstate commerce before that date did not have to be relabelled, which is why sesame is the one allergen where two lawful labels for the same product coexisted on shelves. Tahini is sesame, and a flavouring containing sesame is covered by section 343(w)(4).

The clause this maps to

A preventive controls plan covers an undeclared sesame allergen under the clauses below. This is where the control belongs, not a finding against any firm named on this page: a recall record states a reason, and most of these recalls were initiated by the firm itself.

21 CFR 117.135(c)(2)

Food allergen controls: the written preventive controls that keep an allergen out of a food it does not belong in, and that get the allergens present onto the label.

21 CFR 101.4

Ingredient declaration: every ingredient listed by its common name, in descending order of predominance, on the label of a packaged food.

21 CFR 117 subpart G

Supply-chain programme: the approval and verification a receiving facility runs on a supplier when the hazard is controlled before the ingredient arrives.

By year

Counts are by the date the FDA reported the enforcement action. That date runs behind the date a firm started a recall, so the most recent year is always partial.

Firms with the most records

A firm appears here because it reported recalls, which is what a working recall procedure produces. A high count frequently reflects a single event split across many product codes rather than many separate failures.

• Lemonland Food Corp15
• Bosket Bread Company, LLC15
• Perfection Bakeries LLC8
• SHEEHAN BROTHERS VENDING6
• Adams Extract & Spice LLC5
• Carrot Top Kitchens LLC5
• Lara's Bakery 3 LLC5
• Gaws Gourmet Foods5
• Magic Gourmet Trading Inc5
• Bakery 37 Inc4
• MIN JIANG FOOD STORE INC DBA KOI KOI TRADING3
• Wismettac Asian Foods, INC3

Where the recalling firms are

The state is the location of the recalling firm, not where the product was sold. Distribution is recorded separately on each record.

• Washington32
• California25
• Oregon18
• Texas10
• New York10
• Connecticut8
• Ohio8
• Michigan8
• Indiana8
• Florida5
• Iowa5
• Massachusetts4

Most recently reported

Questions

How many FDA recalls involve undeclared sesame?

169 FDA food recall records since 2012 name undeclared sesame, out of 7,778 undeclared allergen recalls in total. That makes it the tenth most frequently undeclared of the allergens tracked here.

Is sesame a major food allergen?

Sesame became the ninth major food allergen in the United States on 1 January 2023 under the FASTER Act, which is why recall counts naming it rise sharply from that date rather than because more products contain it.

Which clause covers undeclared sesame?

Allergen labelling failures are covered under 21 CFR 117.135(c)(2), the food allergen preventive controls, together with 21 CFR 101.4 for the ingredient declaration itself. Where the allergen arrived inside a purchased ingredient, the supply-chain programme in 21 CFR 117 subpart G is the control that should have caught it.

All FDA food recall data