this post was submitted on 27 Sep 2026
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I was curious about the number of recalls we've been seeing, and if it's actually higher than normal or if the meme is raising visibility more than in the past - according to RecallBench (an excellent reference which draws from source), this year is on track to be slightly lower than average (35.9/month for 2026 | 45.4/month 13-year average) when compared to the last 13 years of recall statistics, but not unprecedentedly so (2020: 35.0/mo , 2022: 36.5/mo).
Given what the trump admin has done to reporting and food inspection, I'm a little surprised to find this out.
When you fire all the people charged with looking for problems, you stop finding problems.
Except clearly they are still finding problems, and at a rate that isn't at all unprecedentedly low. The actual situation is a great deal more* complex than can be caught in a simple sentiment.
Suppliers have learned that things aren't being tested as much as they should and are cutting corners. The stuff that is being found is mostly the stuff that immediately results in a bunch of people getting sick. It's not being found by inspectors, but by clinics.
The stuff that takes a long time to impact health, or has cognitive effects instead of nausea and diarrhea, is gonna take a long time to discover. We're ALL being poisoned, we just don't know it.
This doesn't appear to be reflected in the recalls themselves, and under-inspection has been an issue since covid. Food recalls are primarily from testing done in state labs, while FDA facility inspections are primarily preventative (i.e. they do not find major issues, they find things that lead to major issues in the future and correct them). I can find few examples of a facility inspection that has lead to a recall (for food), and those are what has been primarily impacted by doge's cuts. I've just checked the last ten FDA food recalls, and no illnesses have been reported in connection to any of them (including the above referenced one) (though for the more recent ones, that information may not have been attributed yet - reporting wasn't the most impacted part of the FDA which doge cut, but it definitely had an impact).
I don't have the attention span to check for drugs, but I'm very curious if this trend holds true for those as well.
Yeah, I think there's obviously an effort to report more on recalls because of the shit trump has done. I love regulation, but I also know that the media is a weapon. We see a plane crash, you can bet there's going to be reporting on everything plane related for a while.
I feel like I ought to reiterate how what trump has done is shit, I disagree with it, etc.
I fear that you're undermining your original point.
Would you mind clarifying? It seems to me to agree with both comments I've made on this subject.
I think it speaks to how bad it likely actually is, that with a weakened FDA we still have so many recalls. I wonder what the actual number would be if we were able to catch everything
Looking into it more, it's unlikely there would be a difference. As with this recall, it was caught by a (non-FDA) state health agency and the recall was initiated by the company in response. This seems to be by far the most common way food recalls are initiated, and that tracks with the FDA's role in the process. What was cut by doge was their preventative ability, which is enforcement of code before it becomes an incident that would require a full recall. Given the previous schedule of inspections (2-3 or 3-5 years depending on facility), this means we'll likely start seeing the full impact of those cuts at the end of this year and it will ramp up from there.
I'm certain we will find that this has been their method of extorting money, like they've done with other government agencies. Don't want to lose your license? Then donate to Trump, buy Trump coin or utilize some other method to funnel money to Trump.
Want your cinnamon imports allowed? Time to buy some Trump coin.
What's shocking is that they've cut back on so many inspectors but are still having so many recalls.
How much is slipping through unnoticed? If it doesn't immediately make people sick, contaminated food and drugs may go years without being noticed without testing.