How Safe Is Our Food?

The truth behind all those recalls

Aaron Kassraie,

AARP

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En español

Published September 25, 2024

photo collage of food processing plants and raw chicken with bacteria in a Petri dish above a corn field

AARP (Source: Getty Images (4))

As soon as her daughter’s fever soared to 106 degrees, Suzie Braymen knew she had to take her to the hospital, but on the way, Sydney had a seizure, lost consciousness and turned blue.

“I pulled right into a fire station and lay on the horn. They took her the rest of the way to the hospital after they revived her,” she says. “It was at least two weeks of a nightmare, not knowing. And just watching her be so sick — I’ve never seen anybody so sick.”

Both of Braymen’s daughters, then 20 and 17, were sickened by a 2009 outbreak of E. coli linked to recalled cookie dough. Though Melody recovered relatively easily, Sydney, who has cerebral palsy, fought for her life and lost a kidney.

Their experiences underscore the dangers of foodborne illnesses and why the U.S. system of food recalls is so critically important. That system is in the spotlight again after this summer’s outbreak of listeria traced to sliced deli meat claimed 10 lives and hospitalized every known infected individual. The outbreak triggered a temporary warning from the government to not purchase any meats sliced at deli counters until public health officials could identify the source. The investigation is still active.

“Feeding the public at large carries the heavy burden of responsibility to take every measure to ensure the safety of every food product produced,” says Mitzi Baum, chief executive officer of Stop Foodborne Illness, a nonprofit group. “When these basic practices are skipped or skimped, it’s the consumers that pay the ultimate price with their lives.”

What leads to food recalls?

Food recalls occur when safety issues arise such as hidden allergens, dangerous pathogens, mislabeling or even foreign objects. Despite efforts by food manufacturers and regulators to protect consumers, the system isn’t foolproof. In fact, each year roughly 1 in 6 Americans get sick from foodborne diseases, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

A major problem within today’s food production chain stems from the rapid pace of change in manufacturing with the introduction of more ingredients, traveling greater distances and an increase in ready-to eat-foods, says Darin Detwiler, an associate teaching professor at Northeastern University and a former Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food safety adviser.

“The speed at which we have consumers’ behavior changing, retail changing, food production changing, technologies associated with food changing — is so much faster than when policy change happens,” he says.

Recalling a product with multiple ingredients is far more complicated than a single-ingredient recall. Peanuts? That’s manageable. But a lasagna made with dozens of ingredients, where any one could be the culprit? That’s a different beast altogether.

“There was a huge salmonella outbreak with peanuts about 10 years ago, and over 3,900 different types of products had to be recalled because there were peanuts, like peanut dust, peanut powder, kinds of flour.... People had no idea that it was being recalled because they didn’t realize peanuts were in it. So it just becomes much more complicated,” Detwiler says.

Are foodborne pathogens on the rise?

Older adults, especially those with weakened immune systems, are particularly vulnerable to foodborne illnesses. That’s because, as we age, our immune systems and organs are less efficient at recognizing and eliminating harmful germs. Chronic conditions like diabetes and medications that weaken the immune system add to the risk. Additionally, aging reduces stomach acid, which is important for killing germs and reducing the risk of illness, the CDC says.

This contributes to an estimated 48 million infections of foodborne diseases each year in the U.S., resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths, according to 2018 CDC data.

These estimates could be low because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for foodborne illness.

Even adults hospitalized with severe symptoms — vomiting, diarrhea and bloody stool — aren't usually initially tested for foodborne pathogens, says Braymen, who is now an independent food safety auditor and a constituent advocate for Stop Foodborne Illness.

Despite ongoing public health efforts, infections from five out of eight pathogens commonly transmitted through food have increased (Campylobacter, Cyclospora, STEC, Vibrio, Yersinia), while the others (Listeria, Salmonella, Shigella) have remained steady, according to a July report from the CDC using preliminary 2023 data.

But it’s not all doom and gloom. This uptick may be from better detection methods, such as culture-independent diagnostic tests, which are more sensitive in identifying infections.

“A large portion of what appears to be an increase in outbreaks is us more effectively finding” them, a CDC spokesperson told AARP.

In 2021, the foods most frequently linked to cases of foodborne illness were chicken, mollusks (such as oysters), leafy greens and root vegetables. Chicken, fish, mollusks and vegetable row crops were the most common causes of outbreaks overall, according to CDC data.

“We should have trust in our food,” Detwiler says. “But we should have trust that we know what to do to ensure that our food is safe, not blind trust that someone else took care of the responsibility.”

When a foodborne illness outbreak occurs, public health officials can identify or suspect the exact food source in roughly 40 percent of cases. For multistate outbreaks, that number rises to about 60 percent, according to the CDC. These outbreaks often spike during the summer, likely due to higher temperatures and seasonal eating habits, which increase the risk of contamination.

Food recalls and regulation: What’s really going on?

While the CDC tracks foodborne illness, the FDA oversees the safety of about 78 percent of the U.S. food supply, excluding meat, poultry and certain egg products, which fall under the USDA. Though most recalls are voluntary, both agencies can mandate them when necessary.

“I do think there has been an increase in the ‘reasons and the whys’ of what things are being recalled,” Detwiler says. “There’s a lot less food from the USDA being recalled than there is food from the FDA. And a lot of times, the reasons why these foods are being recalled is a lot different than why they were recalled 20 years ago.”

For example, processed and ready-to-eat foods come with new safety challenges, such as cross-contamination and the presence of additives. “Food fraud,” where companies deliberately substitute or omit key ingredients, is also a growing concern.

“Overall, the complexity of global supply chains demands more sophisticated and agile recall management strategies to address the increasing challenges of food safety,” says Chris Harvey, senior vice president of client services at Sedgwick, a company that helps businesses manage their insurance claims and risks. “The global nature of modern supply chains means that a contamination event can quickly affect products across multiple regions, escalating the scale and impact of recalls.”

Which foods are being recalled? And why?

Prepared foods and produce are the most frequently recalled items. Over the last five years, most recalls on prepared foods were due to undeclared allergens and foreign materials, while produce recalls were largely driven by bacterial contamination, according to Sedgwick analysis.

What is food fraud?

Food fraud, also known as economically motivated adulteration, occurs when a manufacturer intentionally leaves out, alters or adds something to food to make it appear more valuable than it is — like mixing cheap vegetable oil with expensive olive oil and selling it as pure.

But food fraud isn’t just about money; it can also have serious health consequences. Hidden allergens in adulterated food can trigger life-threatening reactions, according to the FDA.

Examples of food fraud

Honey and maple syrup: Some companies dilute honey or maple syrup with cheaper sweeteners like corn syrup but sell it as pure.
Seafood: Less expensive fish are often passed off as pricier species, like selling snapper as more expensive red snapper.
Juice: Adding citric acid, sweetener and water to juice and selling it as "100 percent" juice is one example. In extreme cases, expired juice is mixed with fresh juice to hide poor quality, posing health risks.
Spices: Some spices are bulked up with non-spice materials or dyed with harmful chemicals.

Source: FDA

“Tracing the origin of contamination has become more challenging, leading to an increase in the frequency of food recalls,” Harvey says. “We have seen both U.S. and European food recall events reach a five-year high in 2023, with strong signals (year-to-date) that 2024 will be a record-breaking year.”

In the first three months of 2024, the number of FDA food recalls went up 27.6 percent from the previous quarter, reaching 134 recalls, the second-highest level in four years. The number of affected packages of food also surged dramatically, jumping from 6.2 million to 30.7 million — a rise of 395.1 percent — according to Sedgwick’s Recall Index 2024 Edition 1.

However, the FDA says it’s not accurate to say recalls are increasing overall.

“The number of food recalls in FY 2024 is consistent with years past. So far in FY 2024, 997 food and/or cosmetic recall events have been classified by the FDA. By comparison, 1,551 total food and/or cosmetic recalls were classified in FY 2023,” an FDA spokesperson says.

It’s worth noting that the FDA classifies cosmetics and food within the same category because both are regulated by the FDA’s Center for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition. This contrasts with Sedgwick, which focuses solely on food and drinks as its own sector.

On a brighter note, Class I recalls — the most serious, potentially causing severe illness or death — have trended downward after peaking in 2017, according to combined data from the FDA and USDA.

What’s next for food safety?

Looking ahead, advancements in technology are reshaping food safety, with real-time shipment monitoring and better contamination detection methods allowing for quicker identification and resolution of safety issues, Harvey says.

But many companies hesitate to adopt these tools for fear of backlash if issues arise. “If you talk about technologies, it doesn’t mean anything if no one has the courage to use it correctly and consistently,” Detwiler says.

The industry is under increasing pressure to meet demands for greater transparency and sustainability and stricter safety measures. Although the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act shifted regulations from a reactive approach to preventing foodborne illnesses, its implementation has been slow, especially in smaller plants.

Since the law’s passage, consumer behavior, retail practices and food processing have all changed, further underscoring the difficulty of aligning outdated policies with modern production, Detwiler says.

“We're never going to have a day where we don’t have to worry about food safety again,” he says. “So, as long as there’s bacteria, there’s always going to be pathogens, because pathogens are just the bacteria that are bad for you.”

For the latest food, consumer safety and auto recall alerts, visit aarp.org/recalls.

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Aaron Kassraie writes about issues important to military veterans and their families for AARP. He also serves as a general assignment reporter. Kassraie previously covered U.S. foreign policy as a correspondent for the Kuwait News Agency’s Washington bureau and worked in news gathering for USA Today and Al Jazeera English. 

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