FDA Enables Recalls Search Tool

To help make it easier for consumers to search for information on recent food and other product recalls, beginning in April, FDA enabled a new searchable tool on its website. The agency adds that the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) signed into law in January required FDA to create this more consumer-friendly system.

Unlike the old FDA recalls database system, which comprised links to recall stories in a scroll-down format, the new FDA recall search tool enables users to type in a query and view data, including news releases and other recall announcements, in the form of a table, complete with links to those stories. The data can be searched by recall date, product brand name, product description, company name, and the reason for recall.

Under the FSMA, FDA was required to provide such a search engine within 90 days after the law was signed. The law also requires FDA to indicate whether any recalls the agency initiates are ongoing or complete, since the new law now provides the agency with mandatory recall authority. The new search engine also reflects this information.

“[The search engine] represents the delivery of one of the first major actions called for under the Food Safety Modernization Act,” said FDA deputy commissioner for foods Mike Taylor.