Why does it seem like food recalls are out of control this year?
Why does it seem like food recalls are out of control this year?
为什么今年食品召回事件看起来如此失控？
An uptick in public health awareness is leaving consumers nervous and tired. 公众健康意识的提升让消费者感到焦虑和疲惫。
Just weeks after Taylor Farms issued a recall of its iceberg lettuce amid a massive cyclospora outbreak, the Food and Drug Administration recalled more than one million eggs that may be contaminated with salmonella. The eggs, which come from Midwest Poultry Services, were distributed to Kroger and smaller grocery stores across the South and Southwest US. Then, Taylor Farms pulled more than a dozen of its products containing jalapeños — including guacamole, salsa, taco dip, and more — from store shelves after its supplier, Coast Citrus Distributors, recalled fresh peppers due to salmonella contamination. 在 Taylor Farms 因大规模圆孢子虫（cyclospora）疫情召回其卷心莴苣仅几周后，美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）又召回了超过一百万枚可能受沙门氏菌污染的鸡蛋。这些来自 Midwest Poultry Services 的鸡蛋被分销到了美国南部和西南部的克罗格（Kroger）超市及小型杂货店。随后，由于供应商 Coast Citrus Distributors 因沙门氏菌污染召回了新鲜辣椒，Taylor Farms 又从货架上撤下了十几种含有墨西哥辣椒的产品，包括鳄梨酱、莎莎酱、塔可蘸酱等。
The list of major recalls that occurred over the past few months doesn’t end there, as frozen blueberries and mixed berries sold at Publix stores in multiple states were recalled over concerns about E. coli contamination earlier this month. Some of Outshine’s fruit bars were also removed for potential glass contamination, while even dog food and eye drops have been affected by recent recalls. Altogether, the recent recalls have sickened thousands of people (and some dogs) across the US. 过去几个月发生的重大召回事件远不止于此。本月初，由于担心大肠杆菌污染，在多个州 Publix 超市销售的冷冻蓝莓和混合浆果被召回。Outshine 的一些水果棒也因可能存在玻璃污染而被下架，甚至连狗粮和眼药水也受到了近期召回事件的影响。总的来说，近期的召回事件已导致美国各地数千人（以及一些狗）患病。
Darin Detwiler, professor emeritus at Northeastern and adjunct professor at Michigan State University College of Law, tells The Verge that available data from the FDA suggests that “recall activity has indeed been elevated,” but notes that it’s “too early to know” whether this year’s recalls will outpace the ones issued in 2025. 东北大学名誉教授、密歇根州立大学法学院兼职教授达林·德特威勒（Darin Detwiler）告诉《The Verge》，FDA 的现有数据表明“召回活动确实有所增加”，但他指出，现在判断今年的召回次数是否会超过 2025 年还“为时过早”。
“This is where recall fatigue can become trust fatigue.” “这就是召回疲劳可能演变为信任疲劳的地方。”
As of July 31st, we’ve had 122 food and beverage recalls so far this year, compared to 135 during the same period in 2025 and 146 in 2024, according to the Poynter Institute. “We just transitioned through the summer, which for various reasons tends to see more foodborne outbreaks than other months,” Edward Dudley, a professor of food science at Pennsylvania State University, tells The Verge. “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.” 根据波因特研究所（Poynter Institute）的数据，截至 7 月 31 日，今年已发生 122 起食品和饮料召回事件，而 2025 年同期为 135 起，2024 年同期为 146 起。宾夕法尼亚州立大学食品科学教授爱德华·达德利（Edward Dudley）告诉《The Verge》：“我们刚刚度过夏天，由于各种原因，夏季往往比其他月份更容易出现食源性疾病爆发。媒体对这些事件的报道力度有所增加，这对提高公众意识很有好处，但这并不一定反映出风险出现了令人担忧的上升。”
While the current number of recalls may not be significantly higher than previous years, a report from the US Public Interest Research Group notes that we have still seen “a huge increase” in outbreaks of foodborne illnesses. “What we can say is that recall activity in 2026 appears elevated, and some individual recalls are affecting extraordinarily large quantities of food,” Detwiler says. “That distinction matters. A handful of very large recalls can expose far more consumers than dozens of smaller events.” The lettuce-linked cyclospora outbreak contributed to more than 9,000 illnesses in the US, which may make it the third-largest recorded outbreak of foodborne illnesses, according to the PIRG. 虽然目前的召回数量可能并未显著高于往年，但美国公共利益研究小组（US PIRG）的一份报告指出，我们仍然看到了食源性疾病爆发的“巨大增长”。德特威勒说：“我们可以肯定的是，2026 年的召回活动确实有所增加，而且一些个别召回事件涉及的食品数量极其庞大。这种区别很重要。少数几次大规模召回所波及的消费者，可能远多于几十次小规模事件。”据 PIRG 称，与莴苣相关的圆孢子虫疫情在美国导致了超过 9000 人患病，这可能使其成为有记录以来第三大食源性疾病爆发事件。
Some of these large and small events have been getting a lot of attention. News outlets and television stations have picked up on the recalls published by the FDA and US Department of Agriculture. Online personalities often joined the chorus with their viral recall warning posts racking up thousands of likes and views, bolstered by social media algorithms. 其中一些大大小小的事件引起了广泛关注。新闻媒体和电视台纷纷报道了 FDA 和美国农业部发布的召回信息。网络红人也经常加入这一行列，他们发布的病毒式召回警告帖在社交媒体算法的推动下，获得了数以千计的点赞和浏览量。
“When recall notices become part of the background noise of everyday life, people may stop paying attention,” Detwiler adds. “Worse, they may begin accepting recalls and outbreaks as simply an unavoidable cost of operating a complex food system… This is where recall fatigue can become trust fatigue.” “当召回通知成为日常生活背景噪音的一部分时，人们可能会停止关注，”德特威勒补充道，“更糟糕的是，他们可能会开始认为召回和疫情爆发只是运营复杂食品系统不可避免的代价……这就是召回疲劳可能演变为信任疲劳的地方。”
The Trump administration’s federal funding cuts may also make it more challenging for agencies to oversee food safety. The FDA’s budget decreased by $271 million compared to last year. It also cut over 4,300 employees in 2025 and 2026, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention slashed over 2,800 jobs, as reported by FoodNavigator. In February, the Government Accountability Office said the FDA is currently dealing with staffing shortages as the number of required safety inspections increases. 特朗普政府的联邦资金削减也可能使各机构监管食品安全变得更加困难。据 FoodNavigator 报道，FDA 的预算比去年减少了 2.71 亿美元。此外，FDA 在 2025 年和 2026 年裁减了超过 4300 名员工，而美国疾病控制与预防中心（CDC）则削减了超过 2800 个工作岗位。今年 2 月，美国政府问责局（GAO）表示，随着所需安全检查数量的增加，FDA 目前正面临人手短缺的问题。
It also doesn’t help that the CDC pulled back on efforts to track certain foodborne diseases last year, with pathogens like cyclospora, listeria, and shigella no longer included in its surveillance program. The FDA also delayed the deadline to comply with the Traceability Rule, a law that introduces new record-keeping requirements for businesses that manufacture, process, pack, or hold certain kinds of food, including fresh leafy greens, peppers, eggs, tomatoes, and more. The goal of the law is to make it easier to track and remove contaminated food. It was supposed to go into effect in January 2026, but the FDA pushed back its enforcement to 2028. CDC 去年减少了对某些食源性疾病的追踪工作，圆孢子虫、李斯特菌和志贺氏菌等病原体不再被纳入其监测计划，这也无济于事。FDA 还推迟了遵守《可追溯性规则》（Traceability Rule）的最后期限。该法律为制造、加工、包装或储存某些食品（包括新鲜叶菜、辣椒、鸡蛋、西红柿等）的企业引入了新的记录保存要求，旨在更轻松地追踪和清除受污染食品。该法规原定于 2026 年 1 月生效，但 FDA 已将其执行日期推迟至 2028 年。
With fewer federal staff members and looser regulations, efforts to better detect, track, and avoid recalls become more difficult. “The solution is not to communicate less about recalls,” Detwiler adds. “It is to prevent more of them, communicate clearly when they occur, explain what went wrong, strengthen the institutions responsible for detecting hazards, and demonstrate that lessons from previous failures are actually being implemented.” 由于联邦工作人员减少且监管更加宽松，更好地检测、追踪和避免召回的努力变得更加困难。“解决办法不是减少关于召回的沟通，”德特威勒补充道，“而是要预防更多召回事件的发生，在事件发生时进行清晰的沟通，解释哪里出了问题，加强负责检测危害的机构，并证明从以往失败中吸取的教训正在得到实际落实。”