Millions of pounds of food have been pulled from shelves across the country in recent months due to health concerns.

Recalls include E. coli linked to specific products and listeria linked to different meat products.

In October, Oregon-based BrucePac recalled about 11.7 million pounds of ready-to-eat meat and poultry products from its Oklahoma plant because they might be infected with listeria. No confirmed reports of adverse reactions have been reported, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).

Earlier this year, Boar’s Head recalled 71 products on listeria problems. On Thursday, health officials announced that the Listeria outbreak linked to the recall was over. Ten people have died and 61 people have fallen ill in 19 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

There were also several brands of bagged carrots removed from shelves because of. coli in an ongoing recall, and the company that produces chopped onions for McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has issued a recall in October. There is at least one death reported for each of these cases.

Food is removed for reasons that could cause illness or injury, such as when it is contaminated or mislabeled. To avoid recalls, multiple protective measures have been put in place, from producers on the ground to government regulators.

Abby Snyder, a professor of microbial food safety at Cornell University, said these recent large recalls do not reflect a change in the overall safety of the food supply. Over the past 20 years, U.S. food agencies have improved their ability to detect bacteria in food, she said.

“This is why we are now able to recognize even relatively small outbreaks thanks to improvements in disease surveillance,” Snyder said.

She said large recalls occasionally occur, largely due to unintentional food safety failures – and sometimes that means multiple recalls.

“We’re just in a period where multiple events seem to have happened in relatively short succession over the last few months,” Snyder said.

How does this year compare?

THE two main entities overseeing food safety In the United States, there is the Department of Agriculture, which regulates certain meat, poultry, and egg products, and the Food and Drug Administration, which manages all other foods.

From October 2023 to September 2024, the FDA issued 179 reminders for food and cosmetic products under its highest classificationwhich it defines as the possibility of “serious adverse health consequences, even death”. This is an increase from 145 cases the previous year, but down from 185 recalls of the same classification in fiscal year 2022.

So far in October and November this year, there have been 18 high-risk recalls, the data shows.

An FDA spokesperson said in a statement that the nation’s food supply “remains one of the safest in the world.”

Meanwhile, the USDA’s Food Safety Inspection Service has issued about half the number of product recalls so far this year compared to last year, according to a spokesperson. There have been 30 recalls this year as of Nov. 12, compared to 65 recalls last year, according to a news release.

These recalls are primarily voluntary, unless a company refuses to recall an “adulterated or mislabeled product.” according to its website.

“FSIS remains committed to reviewing all of its food safety policies to continue to protect public health through science-based inspection methods and policies,” the spokesperson wrote.

Prevent health risks

Byron Chaves, a professor and extension specialist in food safety at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said food safety is complicated because the food supply is complicated.

“So when it comes to saving and protecting the food supply, there are many different facets, right? » said Chaves.

In the food safety puzzle, Chaves said everyone — the federal government, state governments, processing companies, producers, retailers and consumers — has a piece to play. The main tools are inspection and enforcement by the federal government, as well as microbial interventions and supply control on the industry side, he said.

Snyder said modern food safety programs do not rely primarily on testing, because to find 100% of contaminated food, 100% of the food produced would have to be sampled. Instead, the programs also include preventative measures.

Most contaminated food doesn’t make it to the store, but it does happen, Chaves said. He said existing industry practices generally work.

“And so, because they work and there are statistically sound, robust sampling plans that most or the majority of facilities actually apply, they are then able to detect contamination in a product or on a surface in food contact before this product leaves the facility, right? ” said Chaves. “If that weren’t the case, we would see hundreds and hundreds more recalls.”

Anna Pope

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Harvest public media

Traction Products

Large-scale recalls can occur when a large number of products are contaminated in a single event, Chaves said. For example, a contaminated ingredient is found in several products, or there is a contaminated food contact surface that several products pass through.

“At the end of the day, microbes and chemicals are just microbes and chemicals, they don’t intentionally do what they do, right? » said Chaves. “So that’s where food regulation and food safety education, and food safety awareness, becomes so important.” »

Recent changes have helped make the food system safer, said Jaydee Hanson, policy director at the Center for Food Safety. For example, the food modernization law signed in 2011 gave the FDA the authority to remove products from the market.

“It’s encouraged companies, as soon as they find out there’s a problem, to pull products from the market,” Hanson said. “Because they don’t want to be seen as a company that the FDA shuts down because they sell unsafe foods.”

Still, Hanson said he would like to see improvements such as greater distance separating vegetable operations and meat operations. But this could be difficult because water is becoming more and more rare and producers face extreme weather conditions like drought, he said.

Hanson also said that faster speeds on the production line can lead to food safety and health issues for line workers.

“You know, when a whole half of a cow walks past someone every two seconds, that’s not a lot of time to visually inspect them,” Hanson said.

When certain recalls take place, Synder said agencies will indicate how long a product has been manufactured. She explained that the time frame depends on when a product is manufactured, distributed, sold, consumed and when cases of illness begin.

“And if it’s, for example, contaminated with a pathogen, it takes a while for symptoms to appear and then the person needs to seek medical attention,” Snyder said. “The case has to be recognized, the pathogen identified, entered into the surveillance system and then the FDA has to, for example, investigate.”

Even though contaminated foods aren’t everywhere, Hanson said people should listen to warnings about the foods they eat.

Hand washing, using a meat thermometer, preventing cross-contamination and returning recalled products are steps consumers can take, Snyder said. But there are limits, she said, and she emphasized the important role food agencies play in detecting outbreaks, conducting investigations and quickly removing products from the market.

This story was produced in partnership with Harvest public mediaa collaboration between public media editorial offices in the Midwest. It reports on food systems, agriculture and rural issues.