Why food recalls happen and how to stay safe, according to an expert

Editor’s note: The podcast Chasing Life with Dr. Sanjay Gupta explores the medical science behind some of life’s mysteries big and small. “I think the short answer is no,” food safety expert Dr. Donald Schaffner recently told CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta on his podcast Chasing Life. “It may have been in the past we had outbreaks like this, but we could never link them together, because we didn’t know that all of these different people in all of these different states all got sick around the same time from eating the same food.” All this information might leave your wondering how to navigate food recalls. We also saw this with McDonald’s slivered onions, but in case the recall was only within the restaurant industry since none of the onions were sold directly to consumers.” He said there may be situations where we have an outbreak and we never learn what the cause is, “in which case we don’t have a recall.” Not all recalls are severe The US Food and Drug Administration and the US Department of Agriculture — which share oversight of food safety — have similar recall structures, Schaffner said. “You can also have recalls for labels that are incorrect: The wrong kind of food was put in the package or the weight of the food in the package is not what it says on the label.” Most recalls are voluntary In many cases, the company in question decides to initiate a recall without being ordered to do so, Schaffner said.