It has been a rough summer for the American kitchen. Just as a cyclospora outbreak linked to Taylor Farms shredded iceberg lettuce sent consumers clearing their crisper drawers, federal regulators recalled more than a million eggs over salmonella concerns. Then came the jalapeños. And the frozen blueberries. And even some fruit bars that might contain glass.
The eggs, produced by Midwest Poultry Services, were distributed to Kroger and other grocery chains across the South and Southwest. The lettuce recall, tied to a parasite that sickened thousands, stretched across more than 30 states. Coast Citrus Distributors pulled fresh peppers from the market, triggering a cascade of secondary recalls on guacamole, salsa, taco dip and prepared salads sold at stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and Walmart.
Yet the numbers tell a slightly different story. According to the Poynter Institute, the U.S. saw 122 food and beverage recalls by July 31 this year, compared with 135 during the same period in 2025 and 146 in 2024. So why does it feel like more? Darin Detwiler, a professor emeritus at Northeastern and adjunct professor at Michigan State University College of Law, says the data from the FDA suggests recall activity has been elevated, but it’s too early to know whether 2026 will outpace last year.
Edward Dudley, a food science professor at Pennsylvania State University, points out that summer tends to see more foodborne outbreaks. “There has been an increased effort to highlight these events by media outlets, which is great for public awareness, but doesn’t necessarily reflect a concerning uptick in risk,” he says.
Still, some individual recalls have been massive. The cyclospora outbreak tied to lettuce contributed to more than 9,000 illnesses, making it possibly the third-largest recorded foodborne outbreak in U.S. history, according to the Public Interest Research Group. Detwiler notes that a handful of very large recalls can expose far more consumers than dozens of smaller events.
The Trump administration‘s federal funding cuts may be complicating oversight. The FDA’s budget decreased by $271 million from last year, and the agency cut over 4,300 employees in 2025 and 2026. The CDC slashed more than 2,800 jobs. The Government Accountability Office warned in February that the FDA is dealing with staffing shortages as safety inspections increase. The CDC also dropped cyclospora, listeria and shigella from its surveillance program last year, and the FDA delayed enforcement of the Traceability Rule to 2028.
Detwiler warns that “recall fatigue can become trust fatigue.” He argues the solution isn’t to communicate less about recalls, but to prevent more of them, strengthen institutions, and show that lessons from past failures are being implemented.
