Run 10 · Live Intelligence · field test
Recall: five registers in one list, read straight from your browser
We asked openFDA, the CPSC and USDA FSIS what the page asks them, were turned away by FSIS for looking like a script, and compared the wire with Recalls.gov and the FDA's recalls page.
Brief
What it is, and who it is for
Recall is one newest-first list of US federal recalls merged from five registers: FDA food, drug and device enforcement reports, USDA FSIS meat and poultry recalls, and CPSC consumer-product recalls. Every card names its agency, its hazard and, where given, its Class I–III in plain words, with a filter by agency and a product lookup over what was loaded.
It is for shoppers, parents, carers and reporters who want one list of this week's recalls across food, medicine, devices and household goods.
Wiring
Where the work happens
Everything is read by your browser; there is no key and no server component. FDA: three enforcement endpoints on api.fda.gov, the newest 100 of each. CPSC: SaferProducts.gov's recall service for the last 90 days. FSIS: a recall API whose 'year' filter is really a Drupal taxonomy id (2026 is 685); the page reads this year and last, probes upward for future ids and remembers them. FSIS blocks server-shaped clients but answers browsers openly — the documented reason there is no proxy. Each source is stamped with its row count, and the list refreshes every thirty minutes.
Sources it reads
- openFDA food, drug and device enforcement reports.
- USDA FSIS recall API.
- CPSC recalls via SaferProducts.gov.
Run table
The run, row by row
| # | Time | Probe | Returned |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Loaded /recall/ from the local copy | HTTP 200, 52,601 bytes. | |
| 02 | openFDA food, drug and device, newest 100 by report date | All HTTP 200. Food 100 of 29,415 (classes 60/27/13); drug 100 of 17,975 (11/81/6); device 100 of 39,969 (3/97/0). Newest report date 16 Sep in all three. | |
| 03 | SaferProducts.gov recalls since 29 Jun 2026 | HTTP 200, 498,544 bytes in 0.12 s; 158 recalls, newest dated 24 Sep. | |
| 04 | FSIS recall API for 2026 (id 685), from a script | HTTP 403, a 413-byte 'Access Denied' page — as the code says. We did not run the browser path. | |
| 05 | Read Recalls.govrival page | Six agencies including NHTSA, the Coast Guard and EPA; search; email alerts; a tab per agency. | |
| 06 | Read the FDA's recalls pagerival page | Date, brand, product, reason, company, status; filters; Excel download; items as of 26 Sep 2026. |
Findings
The lengths it goes to
- Five registers from three agencies become one list, and every class is put into words: Class I, serious harm or death; II, temporary or reversible harm; III, not likely to cause harm.evidence · app.js 1–6, 35–44
- It absorbs two FSIS quirks: a 'year' that is a taxonomy id, found by probing and remembered; and text that arrives entity-encoded and is decoded before escaping, so '&' never reaches the screen.evidence · app.js 12–19, 32, 55–60, 146–162
- There is no relay at all, for a documented reason that our own request confirmed with a 403 from FSIS.evidence · app.js 12–17; run row 04
- Each source is stamped with how many rows it returned, or a dash if it failed, so a silent gap cannot pass as a quiet week.evidence · app.js 229–245
- It names what it leaves out: vehicle recalls, because NHTSA's API answers one vehicle at a time rather than offering a newest-first feed.evidence · app.js 7–10
Against the field
Set beside 2 rivals
Recalls.gov
The US government's one-stop page pointing to six federal agencies' recall information.
Where it is ahead
- Vehicles, boats and environmental products as well.
- Email alerts.
Where Recall goes further
- One merged list across FDA, FSIS and CPSC, where Recalls.gov keeps a tab per agency.
- The meaning of each class on every card.
FDA — Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts
The FDA's searchable list of recalls announced through press releases and company notices; it says not every recall appears there.
Where it is ahead
- Quicker for announced recalls: items as of 26 Sep, against 16 Sep as the newest enforcement date.
- An Excel download and filters by product type and status.
Where Recall goes further
- Enforcement reports, which include recalls without press releases, each with its class.
- FDA, FSIS and CPSC in one list with one lookup.
Faults
Where it falls short
- The lookup covers only what was loaded — the newest 100 per FDA register, 90 days of CPSC, two years of FSIS — not the registers themselves (29,415, 17,975 and 39,969 FDA records in our session).
- No vehicle, boat or environmental-product recalls; Recalls.gov points to all three.
- The FDA side lags: the newest enforcement report date was 16 Sep, eleven days before our session, while the FDA's own page listed items as of 26 Sep.
- No email alerts and no export.
Sign-off
Log closed at
- Held up
- openFDA and the CPSC answered as the code expects, and FSIS refused a script exactly as the code warns.
- Fell short
- A shallow slice of each register, and the FDA enforcement reports it reads were eleven days old.
- Reach for it when
- You want this week's food, drug, device and product recalls in one list with plain-words classes.
- Look elsewhere when
- You need vehicles, alerts or the newest FDA announcements — Recalls.gov or the FDA's page.