Fresh produce in FDA food recalls

6,919 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 involve fresh produce, which is 23.5% of every food recall the agency has reported. 3,630 are Class I, and the median one ran 7 months. Data last updated 2 September 2026.

Records of 29,386

6,919

Share of all recalls

23.5%

Class I of 6,919

3,630

Reported between

2012 to 2026

Who got ill

The CDC recorded 435 foodborne outbreaks attributed to vegetables, fruit and other produce between 2012 and 2023, with 15,162 reported illnesses, 3,079 hospitalisations and 74 deaths. That is 4.8% of the 9,038 foodborne outbreaks in the dataset, and 4.9 in every thousand of those reported ill died.

The cause recorded most often was Salmonella enterica, in 120 of the 406 outbreaks where a cause was recorded at all.

The setting recorded most often was a sit-down restaurant, in 104 of the 359 where a setting was named.

What is different about these records

Recalls involving fresh produce are more often the serious kind: 52.5% are Class I, where the FDA judges there is a reasonable probability of serious health consequences, against 44% of all records.

Why fresh produce recalls the way it does

Fresh produce is the category where contamination arrives before the facility does: irrigation water, soil amendments and field workers are the routes, and nothing downstream of the farm is a kill step for a product eaten raw.

Measured across these 6,919 records, listeria monocytogenes is the most frequent reason at 2,462, then undeclared allergens at 1,162. A record can name more than one hazard, so these overlap and do not sum to 6,919.

What goes wrong

• Listeria monocytogenes2,462
• Undeclared allergens1,162
• Salmonella946
• Foreign material392
• Unapproved ingredients220
• Viral and parasitic contamination211
• Spoilage and mould167
• E. coli137
• Chemical contamination114
• Process deviation68
• Clostridium botulinum24

The regulation that governs it

Part 112 is the Produce Safety rule, the first federal standards for growing, harvesting, packing and holding produce on the farm. It says which produce is covered and which is rarely consumed raw and outside it (§112.2), which farms are covered by size (§112.4), what agricultural water must meet and what to do when it does not (§§112.41 to 112.45), how biological soil amendments such as raw manure may be applied (§§112.51 to 112.56), and it carries a separate subpart for sprouts. A packing house or fresh-cut processor off the farm is under part 117 instead, and where the line between the two falls is the first question a produce hazard analysis has to answer.

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

• 21 CFR Part 112102Standards for the Growing, Harvesting, Packing, and Holding of Produce for Human Consumption
• 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.

• Garden-Fresh Foods, Inc.415
• Good Herbs, Inc.353
• Reser's Fine Foods, Inc.192
• Whole Foods Market135
• Dole Fresh Vegetables Inc131
• FRESH IDEATION FOOD GROUP, LLC dba Fresh Creative Cuisine118
• Iowa Select Herbs LLC104
• Fresh Express Incorporated98
• Fresh Express Inc (Div of Chiquita Brands)89
• Gills Onions, LLC88
• River Ranch Fresh Foods LLC87
• Albertsons Companies LLC80

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.

• California1,057
• Wisconsin561
• Michigan551
• Texas433
• Oregon407
• Florida363
• Washington347
• New York313
• Illinois285
• Ohio242
• Pennsylvania231
• Minnesota221

Most recently reported

Questions

How many FDA recalls involve fresh produce?

6,919 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 involve fresh produce, which is 23.5% of all of them. 3,630 are Class I.

Why does fresh produce get recalled?

Fresh produce is the category where contamination arrives before the facility does: irrigation water, soil amendments and field workers are the routes, and nothing downstream of the farm is a kill step for a product eaten raw.

What is the most common reason for a fresh produce recall?

Listeria monocytogenes appears in 2,462 of the 6,919 records in this category, followed by undeclared allergens with 1,162. A single recall can name more than one hazard, so these counts overlap.

How long does a fresh produce recall take?

The median recall in this category ran 7 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