--- title: FDA Food Recall Process Too Slow, Report Finds description: The Food and Drug Administration does not have an efficient food recall process, which puts consumers at risk of illness or death canonical: https://time.com/4362821/fda-too-slow-food-recall/ author: Rosalie Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-06-09T16:56:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T22:29:59.376Z article:section: Health og:title: FDA Is Too Slow in Recalling Dangerous Products, Report Finds og:description: Increasing consumers' risk of illness or even death og:url: https://time.com/4362821/fda-too-slow-food-recall/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad82a467f6561e3f/6988971d0a4a2242049ca040/fda-slow-food-recall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Diarrhea Drugs-Abuse og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: FDA Is Too Slow in Recalling Dangerous Products, Report Finds twitter:description: Increasing consumers' risk of illness or even death twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad82a467f6561e3f/6988971d0a4a2242049ca040/fda-slow-food-recall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # FDA Is Too Slow in Recalling Dangerous Products, Report Finds > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. by [Rosalie Chan](https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/) ## Rosalie Chan Jun 9, 2016 4:56 PM UTC  The Food and Drug Administration campus in Silver Spring, Md. on Oct. 14, 2015. The Food and Drug Administration campus in Silver Spring, Md. on Oct. 14, 2015. Andrew Harnik—AP by [Rosalie Chan](https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/) ## Rosalie Chan Jun 9, 2016 4:56 PM UTC The Food and Drug Administration does not have an efficient [food recall](http://time.com/4358685/hostess-recall-peanut-allergens/?iid=sr-link8) process, which puts consumers at risk of [illness or death](http://time.com/4352941/general-mills-flour-recall-ecoli/?iid=sr-link10), a government report found Thursday. The FDA does not have policies to ensure that voluntary [food recalls](http://time.com/4095417/skippy-peanut-butter-recall/?iid=sr-link4) are initiated promptly, according a report released by Inspector General Daniel R. Levinson of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The issue requires “immediate attention,” [the report says](http://oig.hhs.gov/oas/reports/region1/11501500.pdf). The report suggested that the FDA instruct [recall](http://time.com/4254431/digiorno-stouffers-lean-cuisine-recall/?iid=sr-link2) staff to set timeframes for recalling products. Waiting too long to recall products has endangered consumers in the past, the report found, citing a nut butter recall in which at least 14 people became ill from salmonella. More than five months passed from when the FDA identified the contaminated product to when the company initiated a recall. Also, at least nine people became ill, including one infant who died, after it took almost three months to recall listeria-contaminated cheese products. “These delays are unacceptable,” the FDA [said in a statement](http://www.fda.gov/NewsEvents/Newsroom/PressAnnouncements/ucm505926.htm). “While some food recalls are more complicated than others due to the nature of the product(s), contamination, and investigation, the recall process should be as swift as possible.” The FDA said it is already taking steps to address these the report’s concerns, including establishing a rapid-response team of agency leaders and introducing new technologies to make the process even swifter. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4362821/fda-too-slow-food-recall/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4362821/fda-too-slow-food-recall/"},"headline":"FDA Is Too Slow in Recalling Dangerous Products, Report Finds","datePublished":"2016-06-09T16:56:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T22:29:59.376Z","description":"Increasing consumers' risk of illness or even death","url":"https://time.com/4362821/fda-too-slow-food-recall/","keywords":["Food & Drink","health"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad82a467f6561e3f/6988971d0a4a2242049ca040/fda-slow-food-recall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rosalie Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rosalie-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltad82a467f6561e3f/6988971d0a4a2242049ca040/fda-slow-food-recall.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Diarrhea Drugs-Abuse","caption":"The Food and Drug Administration campus in Silver Spring, Md. on Oct. 14, 2015.","creditText":"Andrew Harnik—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/food-drink/","name":"Food & Drink"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4362821/fda-too-slow-food-recall/","name":"FDA Is Too Slow in Recalling Dangerous Products, Report Finds"}}]}] ```