Sedgwick: U.S. Product Recalls Reached High Level Again Last Year

The number of U.S. product recalls remained high in 2024 with more than 3,200 events recorded for the second consecutive year, a new report shows.

Sedgwick brand protection’s 2025 U.S. State of the Nation Recall Index, which analyzes recall data from the automotive, consumer product, food and drink, pharmaceutical, and medical device industries, shows 3,232 recalls across five industries, marking the second-highest annual total in the past six years. According to the authors of the report, 2023 and 2024 are the only consecutive years in the past decade in which U.S. recall events have exceeded 3,200.

However, the 680.9 million defective products recalled last year was the lowest level since 2015—a drop from the nearly 1.5 billion units recalled just two years earlier in 2022.

The report shows multiple industries hit recall milestones in 2024. The consumer products sector experienced its second-highest recall total in the past eight years, while the medical device sector recorded a four-year high for recall events. The food and drink industry recorded the second-lowest annual total in the last decade in 2024, despite a six-year high in terms of units impacted. The pharmaceutical sector hit an 11-year annual low for the number of defective units recalled.

Despite the relatively low number of units recalled, the food and drink industry faced several major recalls in 2024, driven by safety risks such as lead-contaminated cinnamon and Listeria contamination in deli meats. The impacts of these recalls will likely unfold throughout 2025, as the Food and Drug Administration pushes for greater oversight of ingredients and the USDA reviews its inspection and recall procedures, according to the report.

Litigation was a prominent trend called out in the report, including lawsuits being brought against government agencies, as well as regulators pursuing actions over product safety and recalls.

The Federal Trade Commission was sued by the National Automobile Dealers Association over its new Combating Auto Retail Scams Rule, which sets transparency and disclosure requirements to protect consumers from illegal tactics by dealers. NADA says the rule will increase compliance costs for car dealers and be overly burdensome.

More than 20 state Departments of Transportation filed suit against the Federal Highway Administration’s rule on measuring greenhouse gas emissions, which went into effect in January.