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EAT SAFELY

U.S. FOOD SAFETY ALERTS

Independent public-information service. Eat Safely is not a government agency. Information is summarized from official sources.
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Data sources

Eat Safely summarizes public information from official food-safety agencies. We are an independent service, not a government website.

Official sources we use

  • FDA CORE investigations track foodborne outbreak investigations. An investigation may still be looking for a food source; it does not always identify a product to avoid.
  • FDA public health advisories provide consumer guidance when an investigation supports specific action.
  • FDA recall announcements identify recalled products and may include brands, package details, distribution information, and instructions for consumers.
  • FDA Major Product Recalls centralizes recalls with significant downstream effects. We use it as supplementary evidence to connect downstream recalled products to existing incidents, alongside advisories, investigations, and recall announcements. It does not contain every FDA recall.
  • openFDA food enforcement reports provide structured recall and enforcement information. Eat Safely treats these as historical or supporting records, not as the source of current map activity.
  • USDA FSIS recall data covers recalls involving products regulated by FSIS. Available notices and retailer distribution lists can support product and state associations.
  • CDC foodborne outbreak notices describe outbreak investigations, reported illnesses, and available public-health guidance.

Current guidance and supporting history

Current consumer records come from advisories, investigations, and recall notices. Historical enforcement records are kept separate from current check-or-avoid and awareness records. Recently resolved incidents are labeled separately.

A record may be useful background without indicating that a product is still on sale. Check the originating agency's notice for its current status and instructions.

Coverage is not complete or real-time

Agencies publish information in different formats and on different schedules. Product details, state associations, and retailer lists may be missing or incomplete. Agencies can revise or remove information as an investigation develops.

Eat Safely may lag behind those changes. A state with no current record in our dataset is not certified safe. The official source linked from each record remains authoritative.

See Methodology for how we organize records and interpret geographic information.