Two different federal agencies handle U.S. food recalls, and which one is responsible depends on the type of food. Knowing the split helps you understand where a recall came from — and why you need to check both.
The FDA
The Food and Drug Administration oversees roughly 80% of the food supply: packaged and processed foods, produce, seafood, dairy, bottled water, dietary supplements, and more. Its Food Enforcement reports are the source for most recalls you'll see.
The USDA (FSIS)
The USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service regulates meat, poultry, and processed egg products — the categories the FDA does not cover. A recall of ground beef, chicken, or a frozen dinner containing meat comes from FSIS, not the FDA.
Rule of thumb: if it's meat, poultry, or egg products, it's USDA FSIS. Almost everything else is FDA.
Why Radius merges both
Because the responsibility is split, checking a single agency misses half the picture. Radius pulls from both the openFDA Food Enforcement data and USDA FSIS recalls, normalizes them into one consistent format, and shows them in a single newest-first feed — each item labeled with its source agency and date.