Chemical contamination in FDA food recalls

607 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 name chemical contamination. That is 2.1% of every food recall the agency has reported, and 111 of them are Class I. Data last updated 2 September 2026.

Records of 29,386

607

Share of all recalls

2.1%

Class I of 607

111

Reported between

2012 to 2026

What is different about these records

The hazard that separates Chemical contamination from the national picture is clostridium botulinum: 9.1% of these records name it, against 1.2% of all FDA food recalls.

By product, Chemical contamination is weighted toward fish and seafood: 19.9% of the records here against 8.2% across the corpus.

Recalls involving chemical contamination skew less severe than the corpus: 18.3% are Class I against 44% nationally.

The volume is falling: 114 records in the three years to 2025, against 193 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.

Who got ill

Between 2012 and 2023 the CDC recorded 437 foodborne outbreaks attributed to ciguatoxin, scombroid toxin, histamine, mycotoxins and other chemical causes. That is 4.8% of the 9,038 foodborne outbreaks in the dataset, and 1.9% of the 264 deaths in it.

Of the 1,712 people reported ill, 7.2% were hospitalised and 2.9 in every thousand died, against 7.6% and 1.7 in every thousand across every foodborne outbreak CDC holds. How much of the recall corpus a hazard accounts for and how much of the harm it accounts for are two different numbers.

CDC recorded the setting for these outbreaks as a private home in 183 of the 401 where a setting was named. An outbreak is recorded against where it was eaten as well as what was eaten, which is an axis an enforcement report has no field for.

The food category attributed most often was fish, in 353 of the 387 outbreaks attributed to a single category.

What Chemical contamination means in a recall record

A chemical contamination recall covers a substance that is harmful in food and was never meant to be there: a heavy metal, a cleaning chemical, a pesticide residue, or a natural toxin such as aflatoxin or histamine.

The firm with the most records of this kind is Russ Davis Wholesale, LLC, with 37. A high count usually reflects one event split across many product codes rather than many separate failures, which is why the table below is ordered by date rather than by firm.

The clause this maps to

A preventive controls plan covers chemical contamination 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 117.35(b)

Substances used in cleaning and sanitizing: toxic materials stored, identified and used so they cannot contaminate food, food-contact surfaces or packaging.

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.

21 CFR 117.130(b)(1)(ii)

Hazard analysis: identifying the known or reasonably foreseeable chemical hazards, including radiological hazards, pesticide and drug residues, natural toxins and food decomposition.

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.

• Russ Davis Wholesale, LLC37
• Prophet Premium Blends, LLC22
• H E B18
• Skipanon Brand Seafoods LLC15
• Wellnov Supplements LLC14
• Organic By Nature, Inc.14
• Abbott Laboratories12
• J M Smucker Co12
• Big Blue Fisheries11
• Butala Emporium, Inc.10
• Grassfields Cheese, LLC10
• Supreme Distributors, Inc.10

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.

• California161
• Florida54
• New York47
• Minnesota42
• Texas39
• Ohio29
• Oregon27
• New Jersey24
• Illinois22
• Michigan17
• Arizona15
• Rhode Island15

Most recently reported

Questions

How many FDA food recalls involve chemical contamination?

607 of the 29,386 FDA food recall records published since 2012 name chemical contamination, which is 2.1% of all of them. 111 are Class I, the class the FDA uses when there is a reasonable probability of serious health consequences or death.

What is Chemical contamination?

A chemical contamination recall covers a substance that is harmful in food and was never meant to be there: a heavy metal, a cleaning chemical, a pesticide residue, or a natural toxin such as aflatoxin or histamine.

Which clause covers chemical contamination?

A preventive controls plan under 21 CFR 117 covers chemical contamination under 21 CFR 117.35(b), 21 CFR 117 subpart G, 21 CFR 117.130(b)(1)(ii). Substances used in cleaning and sanitizing: toxic materials stored, identified and used so they cannot contaminate food, food-contact surfaces or packaging. This is where the control belongs; a recall record states a reason rather than a regulatory finding, and most FDA food recalls are initiated by the firm itself.

All FDA food recall data