I Ate Recalled Food That Might Be Contaminated. Now What?

How to monitor symptoms and when to seek care

Aaron Kassraie,

AARP

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Published October 21, 2025

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You just learned that the food you ate was part of a recall. Now what? For most people, foodborne illness is unpleasant but short-lived. However, for some, especially older adults or those with chronic conditions, it can lead to serious complications.

Every year an estimated 48 million Americans get sick from food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or toxins, resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and about 3,000 deaths. For older adults, these infections often hit harder. That’s because the immune system naturally weakens with age, making it tougher to fight off harmful bacteria.

Of those 48 million cases, about 9 million are specifically linked to known foodborne pathogens — such as salmonella, E. coli and listeria — which account for 56,000 hospitalizations and 1,300 deaths. If you’re 65 or older — or living with a chronic condition such as diabetes or heart disease — the risks are even higher. Nearly half of older adults who contract salmonella, campylobacter, listeria or E. coli require hospitalization, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows.

Even if you follow food safety guidelines at home, you’re not completely protected. Hundreds of food products are recalled each year due to contamination concerns. If you’ve eaten a recalled or contaminated product, knowing what to do before your symptoms escalate is critical. Here’s how to protect your health, monitor for warning signs and know when it’s time to call your doctor:

Step 1: Confirm the recall and act quickly

“Recalls are very specific, meaning all information must match for a product to be considered part of a recall,” says Meredith Carothers, a public affairs specialist at the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Double-check that your product matches the recall notice: brand, product name, use-by or freeze-by date and establishment number.

The establishment number — often abbreviated as EST — is a unique identifier assigned by the USDA to the facility where the product was processed. You can usually find it inside the USDA mark of inspection printed on the label or elsewhere on the packaging.

If all information about your product matches the recall notice:

Don’t panic, but stop eating it immediately.
Return the recalled item for a refund or dispose of it exactly as the recall instructions say — making sure no person or pet can access it.
Save the packaging, or take photos, in case you develop symptoms or need to report an illness.

Step 2: Clean and sanitize your kitchen

Even if you don’t feel sick, it’s critical to remove the contaminated food and clean your home thoroughly. Harmful germs can linger on kitchen surfaces, spreading to other foods and any surfaces the product may have touched. If a recall involves an allergen, follow the same guidance — especially if you or anyone in your home has an allergy.

The USDA recommends you:

Wash cookware, utensils and cutting boards with hot, soapy water
Clean counters and refrigerators with hot, soapy water
Sanitize with a diluted bleach solution (1 tablespoon unscented liquid chlorine bleach per gallon of water) and let air-dry

Step 3: Know the most common foodborne illnesses

Not all germs act the same. Here’s how long symptoms can take to appear and how long they typically last:

Step 4: Monitor for symptoms and know when to call a doctor

If you’ve just eaten recalled food, monitor yourself for symptoms, advises Kristin Gustashaw, a clinical dietitian and certified specialist in gerontological nutrition at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. You may start feeling sick within 30 minutes or up to several days after eating. If you have a chronic condition or take medications that weaken your immune system, consider contacting your doctor in advance.

The CDC says common symptoms of food poisoning include:

Diarrhea
Stomach pain or cramps
Vomiting
Fever and chills

Seek immediate care if you:

Have bloody diarrhea or diarrhea that lasts more than three days
Experience nonstop vomiting or can’t keep fluids down
Show signs of dehydration (dizziness, low urine output, extreme thirst)
Have a fever of 102°F or higher

“Older adults, infants and young children, or adults with coexisting conditions can get easily dehydrated and will need support. They do not have a lot of reserves like a person without the illness or a younger person,” warns Dr. Vernilyn Juan, a primary care physician at the nonprofit health system LCMC Health in New Orleans.

Step 5: Report the illness

If you have a confirmed infection, report it to your local health department. This helps public health officials identify outbreaks and prevent others from getting sick.

“These reports allow agencies to collect valuable information that can be used to identify potential products causing illnesses and link illnesses to larger outbreak clusters,” says the USDA’s Carothers.

After you report, officials may ask for details about what you ate, when you ate it and what symptoms you’ve experienced. They might also request packaging, receipts or photos of the product to help trace the source.

Food safety investigators will interview people who became ill after eating the suspected food, collect food samples and test them for harmful bacteria or contaminants, review documentation and evidence related to the product, and contact the manufacturer for more information

Step 6: Stay safe and avoid eating bad food in the future

Build smart habits to reduce the risk of food poisoning in the future:

Don’t rely on taste, smell or appearance to judge safety.
Wash hands and surfaces thoroughly before and after handling food.
Keep your refrigerator at 40°F or below and clean it regularly.
Store raw foods away from cooked foods; use color-coded cutting boards.
Reheat leftovers to 165°F and avoid reheating multiple times.
Know that “best if used by” and “sell-by” dates refer to quality, not safety — except for infant formula. Food can be safe after these dates if stored properly.

Stay informed:

Sign up for recall alerts from the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) through recalls.gov, which offers email notifications from various government agencies. , which offers email notifications from various government agencies.
Use the FoodKeeper app.
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline: 888-674-6854 (888-MPHotline) or MPHotline@usda.gov. The hotline provides food safety advice and information on recalls, as well as accepts complaints about meat and poultry products.
If your local or state health department is unavailable, report your food-related illness or issue to the appropriate federal agency: the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) for meat, poultry or processed egg products and the FDA for all other foods.
Check aarp.org/recalls for the latest food, retail-good and medical 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. 