Americans now hear about bizarre food and product recalls almost every single day. Recent warnings have involved stones in ice cream, glass in mung beans, and dead mice inside pepper jars. Now, simply avoiding a recall list is treated as a brag-worthy achievement for consumer brands.
Gizmodo writer Matt Novak highlighted a recent shopping article from NBC Select to illustrate this trend. The article promoted a discounted three-pack of Colgate whitening toothpaste by noting it was not recalled by the FDA. That pitch referenced an active recall involving over four million tubes of toothpaste from Pritam International Private Limited. On October 19, 2026, the FDA gave that recall, which includes Brush Buddies kids toothpaste, a Class II designation. Class II means the product may cause temporary or medically reversible health issues.
Grocery stores are using similar messaging to reassure nervous shoppers in the aisles. On October 12, 2026, Novak photographed a supermarket sign in San Diego, California. The sign urged customers to shop with confidence because the store’s eggs were not part of current recalls. That notice followed multiple summer outbreaks, including one massive recall of 19 million eggs. Other recent incidents included 1.5 million pounds of improperly cooled meat and listeria-contaminated smoked salmon.
Federal data shows these consumer safety issues have been climbing rapidly. The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service recorded a 40 percent spike in complaints during fiscal year 2025. Foreign material in meat, poultry, and eggs represented the most common consumer complaint. Novak attributes this worsening trend to federal public health and food safety cuts under the Department of Government Efficiency.
Sources Used
- Gizmodo – ‘Not Affected by the Current Recall’ Is Now a Selling Point in America
- Gizmodo – Food Safety Complaints for Meat, Poultry, and Eggs Spiked 40% in 2025 to Record High
- NBC Select – Colgate Optic White Toothpaste 3-Pack is 47% Off: Deal of the Day
- Fox Business – Popular kids’ toothpastes among 4M tubes recalled nationwide
- Quartz – FDA flagged recall of more than 4.3 million tubes of toothpaste
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