Beverages and juice in FDA food recalls

1,544 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 involve a beverage or juice, which is 5.3% of every food recall the agency has reported. 422 are Class I, and the median one ran 6 months. Data last updated 2 September 2026.

Records of 29,386

1,544

Share of all recalls

5.3%

Class I of 1,544

422

Reported between

2012 to 2026

What is different about these records

These records overlap heavily with milk and dairy: 32.8% of them also fall under that category, against 16.9% across the corpus. A record can carry more than one category.

Recalls involving a beverage or juice skew less severe than the corpus: 27.3% are Class I against 44% nationally.

The volume is falling: 269 records in the three years to 2025, against 432 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.

Why beverages and juice recalls the way it does

Juice is the other food with its own HACCP regulation in the United States, 21 CFR part 120, which requires a treatment achieving a 5-log reduction of the pertinent pathogen, and unpasteurised juice recalls are almost always a failure of that step or an exemption misapplied.

Measured across these 1,544 records, undeclared allergens is the most frequent reason at 548, then listeria monocytogenes at 132. A record can name more than one hazard, so these overlap and do not sum to 1,544.

What goes wrong

• Undeclared allergens548
• Listeria monocytogenes132
• Foreign material112
• Salmonella104
• Spoilage and mould75
• Clostridium botulinum43
• Process deviation42
• Chemical contamination34
• Unapproved ingredients22
• E. coli11
• Viral and parasitic contamination8

The regulation that governs it

Juice has its own HACCP regulation, 21 CFR part 120, and it carries the most specific process requirement in this list: §120.24 requires a treatment achieving a 5-log reduction of the pertinent microorganism, and a juice that does not receive one must carry the warning statement of §101.17. Bottled water is a food with a standard of identity at §165.110, which sets allowable levels for contaminants, and a good manufacturing practice rule at part 129, which requires an approved source (§129.35) and process controls including testing (§129.80). Every other beverage is under part 117, where the relevant question is usually the acidified or low-acid one that also governs sauces.

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

• 21 CFR Part 12015Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems
• 21 CFR Part 1652Beverages
• 21 CFR Part 11761Current Good Manufacturing Practice, Hazard Analysis, and Risk-Based Preventive Controls for Human Food

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.

• C & S Wholesale Grocers, Inc.65
• Lyons Magnus, Inc38
• American Beverage Corp27
• Snapchill, LLC20
• Whole Foods Market17
• Clement Pappas & Co., Inc.16
• KRAFT HEINZ FOODS COMPANY15
• Nutrition Resource Services, Inc.15
• Giant Eagle14
• Flywheel's Pies14
• DYMA BRANDS13
• Clasen Quality Chocolater, Inc13

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.

• California334
• Washington104
• Pennsylvania90
• Massachusetts84
• Wisconsin82
• Oregon75
• New York65
• New Jersey54
• Florida53
• Ohio52
• Georgia51
• Illinois50

Most recently reported

Questions

How many FDA recalls involve a beverage or juice?

1,544 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 involve a beverage or juice, which is 5.3% of all of them. 422 are Class I.

Why does beverages and juice get recalled?

Juice is the other food with its own HACCP regulation in the United States, 21 CFR part 120, which requires a treatment achieving a 5-log reduction of the pertinent pathogen, and unpasteurised juice recalls are almost always a failure of that step or an exemption misapplied.

What is the most common reason for a beverages and juice recall?

Undeclared allergens appears in 548 of the 1,544 records in this category, followed by listeria monocytogenes with 132. A single recall can name more than one hazard, so these counts overlap.

How long does a beverages and juice 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