As previously reported by Food Industry Executive based on a report and press release from Stericycle Expert Solutions, recalls within the consumer products, automotive, pharmaceutical, medical device, and food and beverage industries were all down in the first quarter of 2019.  This is the first time since 2012 that recalls were down across all industries monitored by Stericycle.

Stericycle believes that the reduction in recalls “were largely due to reduced oversight from the government shutdown earlier this year which stopped or limited many government safety inspections.”  Though only a partial shutdown, routine inspections were impacted for all domestic food facilities (though roughly 150 staff were brought back to work mid-shutdown to perform routine inspections at high-risk food facilities) and this may well have impacted the number of violations observed and, consequently, the number of recalls.  For more on the shutdown, see the Daily Intake blog posts here, here, and here.

Also of interest from the Stericycle report:

• One large recall accounted for 95.8% of all recalled FDA food units

• Undeclared allergens was the top cause of FDA food recalls

• Foreign material was the top cause of USDA food recalls