by Marley Martens, 10th
Have you ever gone to a store expecting to get your favorite food, only for it to be nowhere in sight, never to be seen again? Well if you have, then you’re not alone! The FDA reported 8 recalls just this month—and we’re only 6 days into it. Why have there been so many recalls lately, and how does that affect you?
Recalls happen when action is taken by a company to get a product off the market. This occurs when a company informs the public that a food item is unsafe for consumption or mislabeled. These recalls and food standards are created by the Food and Drug Administration, or the FDA for short. The FDA is a government agency.
On July 16th 2025, the FDA revoked 52 food standards. These revoked standards are difficult for consumers to find online, raising concerns, as the number of recalls continue to rise. that at least some of those standards were important.
But why would the FDA revoke them? The FDA has stated that this was meant to modernize food safety and encourage flexibility. However, it has been argued from critics that this could lower food quality and result in false advertising.
Another reason the FDA could’ve revoked all those food standards is because of the staff cuts that had happened in 2025, which caused the FDA to lose 3,859 employees in 2025. Inspectors in the industry are saying that because of this, the FDA is losing its institutional knowledge. This kind of job requires years of knowledge and experience which cannot be replaced quickly.
What all this tells us is that, most importantly, we need to be more careful with what we consume, but at the same time, we shouldn’t accept declining standards in food safety. We need to fight for better food safety regulations so that we can be sure in the future that what we put in our bodies is safe for us.
In the meantime, we should do our best to eat healthy and keep ourselves safe.
So, what should you do to keep yourself safe? First of all, you should pay attention to which foods are getting recalled by checking sites, and make sure that none of them are in your fridge or cabinets. Then, if you do have a recalled food product, either return it for a refund, or dispose of it by wrapping it up so no person or animal can get into it before you throw it away.