Recent major food recalls in the United States have sickened thousands of people and some dogs, spanning products from frozen berries sold at Publix to fruit bars and even pet food and eye drops. The wave of recalls has left many consumers feeling nervous and fatigued, according to experts and public health advocates. While the total number of recall events this year is not dramatically higher than recent years, the scale of some individual outbreaks is drawing widespread attention.
Data from the FDA suggests recall activity is elevated in 2026, though it is too early to tell if it will surpass last year’s totals, said Darin Detwiler, professor emeritus at Northeastern and adjunct professor at Michigan State University College of Law. As of July 31st, there have been 122 food and beverage recalls this year, compared to 135 during the same period in 2025 and 146 in 2024, according to the Poynter Institute. Edward Dudley, a professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, noted that summer months typically see more foodborne outbreaks and that increased media coverage may be amplifying public perception of risk. However, a report from the US Public Interest Research Group indicates a “huge increase” in foodborne illness outbreaks, with the lettuce-linked cyclospora outbreak alone contributing to over 9,000 illnesses, potentially making it the third-largest recorded outbreak.
The sheer size of certain recalls matters more than the total count, according to Detwiler, because a handful of very large events can expose far more consumers than dozens of smaller ones. News outlets and television stations have heavily covered FDA and USDA recall notices, while online personalities have amplified warnings through viral social media posts. This constant stream of alerts risks creating “recall fatigue,” where the public becomes desensitized to warnings and may begin accepting outbreaks as an unavoidable part of the food system, Detwiler said. That fatigue can evolve into a broader distrust of regulators and food producers.
Federal funding cuts under the Trump administration are making oversight more difficult. The FDA’s budget decreased by $271 million compared to last year, and the agency cut over 4,300 employees in 2025 and 2026, while the CDC slashed over 2,800 jobs, according to FoodNavigator. The Government Accountability Office noted in February that the FDA faces staffing shortages as safety inspection demands increase. Additionally, the CDC removed pathogens like cyclospora, listeria, and shigella from its surveillance program last year, and the FDA delayed enforcement of the Traceability Rule to 2028, pushing back a law designed to ease tracking and removal of contaminated food.
With fewer federal staff and looser regulations, detecting and avoiding recalls becomes harder. Detwiler said the answer is not to communicate less about recalls but to prevent more of them, clearly explain what went wrong, strengthen detection institutions, and show that lessons from past failures are being applied. For US consumers, the recent spate of recalls underscores the fragility of the food supply chain and the importance of maintaining robust public health systems.
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