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. 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.

“This is where recall fatigue can become trust fatigue.” 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.”

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.”

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.

“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.”