Bakery in FDA food recalls

3,805 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 involve a bakery product, which is 12.9% of every food recall the agency has reported. 1,556 are Class I, and the median one ran 6 months. Data last updated 2 September 2026.

Records of 29,386

3,805

Share of all recalls

12.9%

Class I of 3,805

1,556

Reported between

2012 to 2026

What is different about these records

The hazard that separates Bakery from the national picture is undeclared allergens: 45.7% of these records name it, against 26.5% of all FDA food recalls.

These records overlap heavily with grains, flour and pasta: 13.9% of them also fall under that category, against 6.7% across the corpus. A record can carry more than one category.

Why bakery recalls the way it does

Bakery is overwhelmingly an allergen category rather than a pathogen one: baking is a kill step, but a bakery runs many recipes down shared lines, so the failure that recalls a bakery product is usually a label or a changeover.

Measured across these 3,805 records, undeclared allergens is the most frequent reason at 1,738, then listeria monocytogenes at 646. A record can name more than one hazard, so these overlap and do not sum to 3,805.

What goes wrong

• Undeclared allergens1,738
• Listeria monocytogenes646
• Foreign material464
• Salmonella258
• E. coli150
• Spoilage and mould55
• Clostridium botulinum21
• Chemical contamination19
• Process deviation13
• Unapproved ingredients7
• Viral and parasitic contamination5

The regulation that governs it

A bakery has no regulation of its own. It is under the good manufacturing practices of part 117 subpart B and, unless it is a qualified facility, the preventive controls of subpart C. The controls that decide a bakery's record are the food allergen controls of §117.135, which require written procedures both for cross-contact on shared lines and for the label, and §101.4, which requires every ingredient to be declared by its common or usual name. Baking is a kill step for pathogens, so the hazard analysis rarely turns on process controls; it turns on changeover, on the sub-ingredient a supplier's specification did not carry forward, and on the label. Part 136 sets standards of identity for bread and rolls and says nothing about safety.

These are the parts of 21 CFR that bear on a bakery product, reproduced in full on this site because title 21 is United States public domain.

• 21 CFR Part 11761Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food
• 21 CFR Part 10150Food Labeling

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.

• Rabbit Creek Products Inc.114
• FRESH IDEATION FOOD GROUP, LLC dba Fresh Creative Cuisine81
• Harris Teeter66
• CSM Bakery Products NA63
• Publix Super Markets, Inc.54
• Albertsons Companies LLC46
• Wegmans Food Markets, Inc.46
• Blue Bell Creameries, L.P.45
• FGF, LLC42
• SunBurst Foods, Inc.38
• Weis Markets, Inc., Ice Cream Division36
• Whole Foods Market36

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.

• California420
• Texas207
• Washington206
• Pennsylvania196
• New York195
• Florida192
• North Carolina182
• Georgia168
• Ohio156
• Illinois153
• Michigan153
• Maryland136

Most recently reported

Questions

How many FDA recalls involve a bakery product?

3,805 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 involve a bakery product, which is 12.9% of all of them. 1,556 are Class I.

Why does bakery get recalled?

Bakery is overwhelmingly an allergen category rather than a pathogen one: baking is a kill step, but a bakery runs many recipes down shared lines, so the failure that recalls a bakery product is usually a label or a changeover.

What is the most common reason for a bakery recall?

Undeclared allergens appears in 1,738 of the 3,805 records in this category, followed by listeria monocytogenes with 646. A single recall can name more than one hazard, so these counts overlap.

How long does a bakery recall take?

The median recall in this category ran 6 months from the date the firm initiated it to the date the FDA terminated it. Termination means the agency judged that all reasonable effort had been made under 21 CFR 7.55; it does not mean no product remained in circulation.

All FDA food recall data