Guide · updated 28 October 2026
How to check if a product has been recalled
The short answer: check four official databases — CPSC (US consumer products), openFDA (US food, drugs, devices), the EU Safety Gate, and the UK OPSS recall list — searching by product type, brand and model, not just by product name.
1. US consumer products: CPSC
The Consumer Product Safety Commission publishes every recall it announces at saferproducts.gov. Searches work best with a model number or a brand name; searching "blender" returns years of unrelated items.
CPSC also runs a public JSON feed, which is what monitoring tools use. In the 60 days up to 28 October 2026 the feed contained 81 recalls; 33 of them involved children's or infant products.
What a CPSC notice tells you: the hazard, the number of units, the importer or manufacturer, the remedy (refund, repair, replace), and the action required from the consumer — often destroying the product and sending a photo.
2. US food, drugs and devices: openFDA
Enforcement reports for food, drugs, biologics and medical devices live in openFDA at open.fda.gov. It covers products CPSC does not, and it is queryable by API — the device enforcement endpoint alone holds more than 40,000 reports.
3. European Union: Safety Gate
The EU publishes alerts on non-food products through Safety Gate (formerly RAPEX). Alerts are weekly and include the country that notified the product, the risk type, and the measure taken. If you import into the EU, this is the list your distributor will check.
4. United Kingdom: OPSS
Post-Brexit the UK runs its own product safety database via the Office for Product Safety and Standards. UK recalls often appear here before they appear anywhere else.
How to check a specific product in five minutes
- Note the brand, exact model number and country of manufacture from the label or the listing.
- Search CPSC by model number, then by brand.
- Search the EU Safety Gate by product category and brand.
- Search your marketplace's own recall notices — Amazon, for example, notifies affected sellers separately.
- If your product is a near-identical generic (same factory, same mould), treat a competitor's recall as a warning about your own stock.
Why checking once is not enough
Recalls are published continuously, and the products affected are often ones already in your warehouse or already sold. A product that was clean when you imported it can be recalled eight months later, and the obligation to act lands on whoever still sells it.
That is the gap ShelfWatch fills: the same public data, filtered to your categories, with a recommendation attached, delivered weekly. See a real brief.
Related
When a supplier's product is recalled, who pays? — the commercial cost to a seller.
CPSC eFiling and the 8 January 2027 deadline — what certificate data must travel with the entry.
Questions
Do recalls apply to products I already sold?
Yes. A recall covers units in consumers' hands as well as stock. Regulators generally expect sellers to stop selling and to contact buyers where contact details exist.
Is a recall the same as a safety warning?
No. A warning flags a risk; a recall requires action — refund, repair or replacement. Regulators list both, and the difference matters for what you must do.
What if my supplier says it is not their product?
Check the importer named on the notice. In the US, the importer of record carries much of the obligation, which is frequently not the factory.