More than 167,000 pounds of meat have been recalled. What you need to know about the state of food safety in the United States

More than 167,000 pounds of beef, pork and goat meat are being recalled after being produced without required federal inspection and labeled with a fake inspection sticker, according to the Department of Agriculture.

The meat products join a wide range of foods recalled this summer, including frozen blueberries, deli meats and broccoli sprouts that were pulled from shelves and linked to outbreaks of E. coli. coli, listeria and salmonella.

The steady stream of recalls following the country’s largest known cyclospora outbreak has fueled consumer concerns about food safety.

Here’s what you need to know about whether there have been more outbreaks and recalls this summer than in previous years and what the state of food safety is.

What is the difference between an outbreak and a food recall?

Although related, foodborne illness outbreaks and food recalls are two separate events and data for each is tracked individually.

“Not every outbreak leads to a recall, and not all recalls are associated with an outbreak,” said Barbara Kowalcyk, director of the Institute for Food Safety and Nutrition Security at George Washington University.

Food recalls occur when a problem has been identified in a food product. This could mean that a company did not correctly identify allergens or that the food did not undergo the necessary inspection. In September, the Food and Drug Administration recalled certain ice cream products due to the presence of “small stones and other hard objects,” for example.

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Recalls do not mean anyone has gotten sick.

“A recall means a potential problem has been identified and action is being taken to protect consumers,” Indu Upadhyaya, professor of poultry science and food safety at the University of Connecticut, said in an email. “And a recalled product does not mean that an entire type of food is unsafe.”

A contaminated ingredient may result in multiple recalls if the affected food is included in more than one product.

For example, the FDA issued a recall of jalapeños from Sinaloa, Mexico, in August. This recall affected several food products beyond individual jalapeños, such as pre-made salsas, guacamole and pico de gallo.

Recalls may also occur following a foodborne illness outbreak if a product is determined to be the cause.

Foodborne illness outbreaks are announced when there are enough cases linked to the same food. But not every outbreak results in a recall if investigators can’t identify a specific product behind it.

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“For example, if you and I are sick from the same strain of salmonella, it is assumed that we got sick by consuming the same food or being exposed to the same source,” Don Schaffner, a food science professor at Rutgers University, said in an email. “In some cases, outbreaks may be declared but the ultimate cause has never been identified.”

In general, foodborne illnesses are underreported, Upadhyaya explained, “because many people with mild or even moderate symptoms do not seek medical care and therefore are not tested or included in surveillance systems.”

Have there been more outbreaks and recalls this summer than in previous years?

This summer’s cyclospora outbreak was the largest in U.S. history. Its scale has led to increased visibility, awareness and media coverage around foodborne illnesses. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there have been more outbreaks or recalls this year, food science experts told PBS News.

“The identification of contaminated products, issuance of recalls and active public health investigations demonstrate that our food safety surveillance, detection, traceability and response systems are working as intended,” Kali Kniel, professor of microbial food safety at the University of Delaware, said in an email.

WATCH: Cyclospora and salmonella outbreaks raise food safety concerns in the United States

Some of the best data for tracking foodborne illness trends comes from FoodNet, a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the FDA, the Department of Agriculture and 10 state health departments.

Watch the PBS News Hour segment in the player above.

The latest data on FoodNet is from 2024. Last year, the Trump administration scaled back the system’s surveillance efforts by making it optional for participating states to monitor six of the eight pathogens it previously tracked.

The CDC’s data is typically behind schedule “by several years as they check and recheck the data,” Schaffner said.

The CDC separately reports the number of active investigations into four germs that could cause outbreaks: Campylobacter, E. coli, listeria and salmonella. Not all investigations lead to outbreak notices.

As of September 23, the CDC reported 32 total active investigations into the four pathogens. On average, the CDC says it coordinates between 17 and 40 investigations each week. In September 2025, there were 31.

When it comes to recalls, it is difficult to compare data from one year to the next. On the one hand, recalls do not mean that a person has gotten sick, and on the other hand, a single contaminated ingredient can lead to multiple recalls.

“There have been several very large outbreaks recently, but the number of news stories alone cannot tell us whether foodborne illnesses have increased overall in 2026,” Upadhyaya said. “We will need more comprehensive monitoring data before drawing this conclusion.”

What do outbreaks and recalls say about food safety in the United States?

A change in the number of food outbreaks or recalls does not necessarily indicate a more dangerous food system.

“Recalls and outbreaks are generally considered random events, they occur irregularly and sporadically,” Schaffner said. “Levels can fluctuate up and down, but that doesn’t necessarily mean things are getting better or worse, just that these things are variable.”

An increase in outbreaks could be a sign of scientific advances that could make it easier for experts to link diseases “that previously might never have been recognized as part of the same epidemic,” Upadhyaya said.

They could also be the result of increased public awareness. Increased media coverage of recent outbreaks could encourage more people to seek medical attention and undergo testing that would result in more reported cases than before, Kniel said.

“At this time, there is no evidence to suggest that the U.S. food supply is fundamentally less secure than in previous years,” she said.

Will the Trump administration’s policies affect the US food system?

Although food science experts PBS News spoke with generally agree that food safety in the United States is not worsening, some have raised concerns about the effect the Trump administration’s policies could have on the safety of the system in the future.

“Ultimately, we need adequate funding for research, inspection, investigations and development of good food safety policy, all of which is influenced by decisions made by the Trump administration,” Schaffner said.

He said budget cuts and layoffs “have reduced the responsiveness of the FDA and CDC.”

WATCH: Important HHS services ‘will be crippled’ by cuts, says former Secretary Sebelius

Epidemiology and scientific research play an important role in food safety, Schaffner said. Epidemiologists investigate outbreaks, and research by academics and government scientists advances knowledge of food safety.

“The disruption to federal funding experienced under the Trump administration has impacted science in every field, and food safety science is no exception,” he said.

WATCH: The possible long-term impact of Trump’s cuts to medical research funding

Kowalcyk said the U.S. food system has long been vulnerable and under stress. She said the government had historically not invested in “foodborne disease surveillance systems and food safety research in the way we wanted to”.

The situation has gotten worse under Trump, she said.

“Before this administration, we had one hand tied behind our back, and now we have two,” Kowalcyk said.