FDA Recalls JSON API (openFDA) — a cheatsheet

openFDA publishes the FDA's recall / enforcement, adverse-event and drug-labeling databases as clean JSON through a free, keyless API. No sign-up, no API key, no paid tier. Registering a free key only raises the rate limit — every call below works anonymously.

Base URL: https://api.fda.gov

Recall (enforcement) endpoints

Endpoint	Purpose	Auth
GET /drug/enforcement.json	Drug recalls (firm, product, reason, class, status).	none
GET /device/enforcement.json	Medical-device recalls.	none
GET /food/enforcement.json	Food & cosmetics recalls.	none
GET /drug/event.json	Adverse-event reports (FAERS).	none
GET /drug/label.json	Structured product labeling (SPL).	none

Query parameters

Param	Meaning	Example
search	field:value filter, Lucene-style (quote + URL-encode multi-word values).	search=classification:"Class+I"
count	Aggregate by a field instead of listing rows.	count=classification.exact
limit	Page size, max 1000.	limit=100
skip	Offset for paging.	skip=200

Examples

# Most-serious (Class I) drug recalls
curl 'https://api.fda.gov/drug/enforcement.json?search=classification:"Class+I"&limit=5'

# Recalls still Ongoing
curl 'https://api.fda.gov/drug/enforcement.json?search=status:"Ongoing"'

# Food recalls initiated in 2026 (date range)
curl 'https://api.fda.gov/food/enforcement.json?search=recall_initiation_date:[20260101+TO+20261231]'

# Distribution by class, one call (aggregation)
curl "https://api.fda.gov/drug/enforcement.json?count=classification.exact"

# Page through device recalls
curl "https://api.fda.gov/device/enforcement.json?limit=100&skip=200"

Key fields in a recall record

recalling_firm, product_description, reason_for_recall, classification (Class I/II/III), status (Ongoing / Completed / Terminated), recall_initiation_date, distribution_pattern, code_info, and an openfda block (NDC codes, brand/generic names).

Notes

• Anonymous calls are rate-limited; a free API key just raises the ceiling.
• openFDA is a periodically refreshed snapshot, not a live feed.
• search values are URL-encoded; ranges use [start+TO+end], booleans use +AND+ / +.

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Want it as ready-to-use rows instead of raw paging? The FDA Recalls Scraper on Apify wraps these endpoints — drug/device/food, class and status filters in, structured output out.

📄 Narrative walkthrough on dev.to: FDA Recalls Have a Free JSON API