Undeclared crustacean shellfish in FDA food recalls

182 FDA food recall records since 2012 name undeclared crustacean shellfish, out of 7,778 undeclared allergen recalls in total. 95 are Class I. Data last updated 2 September 2026.

Records of 29,386

182

Share of all recalls

0.6%

Class I of 182

95

Reported between

2012 to 2026

Crustacean shellfish as a major food allergen

Crustacean shellfish covers shrimp, crab and lobster, and it is a separate major allergen from molluscs such as clams and oysters, which are not one.

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, Crustacean shellfish is weighted toward fish and seafood: 52.7% of the records here against 8.2% across the corpus.

Recalls involving undeclared crustacean shellfish are more often the serious kind: 52.2% are Class I, where the FDA judges there is a reasonable probability of serious health consequences, against 44% of all records.

The volume is falling: 22 records in the three years to 2025, against 60 in the four before them. 2026 is excluded because the agency reports an enforcement action months after a firm begins a recall, so the most recent year is always incomplete.

What the FDA says

What the law says about crustacean shellfish

Crustacean shellfish is one of the nine in 21 U.S.C. 321(qq)(1), given with the examples crab, lobster and shrimp, and section 343(w)(2) requires the species, not the class: Contains shrimp, not Contains shellfish. Molluscan shellfish, clams, oysters, mussels and scallops, are not a major food allergen under the statute and carry no mandatory allergen declaration, although as ingredients they must still be named under 21 CFR 101.4. A record here naming a mollusc is on this page because the recalling firm described it as an allergen recall, not because the law makes it one.

The clause this maps to

A preventive controls plan covers an undeclared crustacean shellfish 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.

• NutraCap Labs LLC29
• Albertsons Companies LLC20
• Mrs Gerry's Kitchen, Inc11
• Lemonland Food Corp8
• Wismettac Asian Foods, INC8
• Whole Foods Market5
• Sea Watch International Ltd4
• Maine Natural Health, Inc.4
• Hahn, Harry O Seafood Inc4
• El Campestre4
• DAISO CALIFORNIA WAREHOUSE3
• Barbara's Orchard/Delicae Gourmet3

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.

• Georgia29
• California24
• Idaho20
• Washington14
• Minnesota12
• Maryland10
• New York9
• Florida9
• New Jersey9
• Pennsylvania8
• Massachusetts7
• Texas4

Most recently reported

Questions

How many FDA recalls involve undeclared crustacean shellfish?

182 FDA food recall records since 2012 name undeclared crustacean shellfish, out of 7,778 undeclared allergen recalls in total. That makes it the ninth most frequently undeclared of the allergens tracked here.

Is crustacean shellfish a major food allergen?

Crustacean shellfish covers shrimp, crab and lobster, and it is a separate major allergen from molluscs such as clams and oysters, which are not one.

Which clause covers undeclared crustacean shellfish?

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