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Recall Observatory FDA recall evidence

Deterministic derived interpretations

Audit every failure-mode label against FDA wording.

These non-exclusive labels are produced by published versioned rules. They are not FDA categories, confidence scores, safety rankings, or predictions.

Counting contract

Count exact recall events

Event counts include only products grouped by an exact numeric FDA event identifier and count each event once. Product counts use one imported enforcement row as the unit. Unknown means a reason is available but no named rule matched; a blank reason receives no assignment.

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Microbial contamination

2,133 exact recall events

Recall wording explicitly identifies microbial contamination, bioburden, mold or yeast, or a named pathogen in a product-linked contamination context.

reason.microbial_contamination

Supporting official wording

  1. microbial contamination

    Z-0999-2023 · Event 91136

  2. contaminated with Burkholderia cepacia

    Z-1182-2021 · Event 87371

  3. contaminated with micro-organisms Burkholderia cepacia and/or Burkholderia

    Z-1837-2021 · Event 87976

Contributing exact events

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Undeclared allergen

2,288 exact recall events

Recall wording explicitly says an allergen, or a named major allergen, was undeclared, omitted, or absent from required label statements.

reason.undeclared_allergen

Supporting official wording

  1. undeclared desmethyl carbodenafil and undeclared milk

    D-1144-2017 · Event 77768

  2. undeclared sildenafil and tadalafil and undeclared milk

    D-0126-2018 · Event 77859

  3. undeclared milk

    D-1117-2017 · Event 77375

Contributing exact events

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Sterility assurance

836 exact recall events

Recall wording states that sterility cannot be assured or that sterilization, sterile barriers, packages, seals, or sterile-field integrity failed.

reason.sterility_assurance

Supporting official wording

  1. sterile packaging to be compromised

    Z-2749-2020 · Event 85952

  2. sterile packaging to be compromised

    Z-2748-2020 · Event 85952

  3. sterile barrier may be compromised

    Z-2221-2024 · Event 94778

Contributing exact events

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Labeling or packaging

1,509 exact recall events

Recall wording identifies a label, package, pouch, or seal mix-up, omission, defect, integrity failure, or mispackaging.

reason.labeling_packaging

Supporting official wording

  1. Packaging error

    Z-1288-2022 · Event 90273

  2. label for affected devices is missing

    Z-1130-2026 · Event 98176

  3. mislabeling

    Z-2386-2021 · Event 88388

Contributing exact events

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Potency or specification failure

1,521 exact recall events

Recall wording explicitly identifies potency, assay, dissolution, stability, concentration, or product-specification nonconformance.

reason.potency_specification_failure

Supporting official wording

  1. may not meet the required tensile strength specification

    Z-0531-2026 · Event 97877

  2. out-of-specification

    Z-0235-2025 · Event 95432

  3. out-of-specification

    Z-0248-2025 · Event 95432

Contributing exact events

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Foreign material or chemical contamination

1,552 exact recall events

Recall wording explicitly identifies foreign or particulate material, named fragments, heavy metals, pesticides, solvents, glycol, or named nitrosamine impurities.

reason.foreign_material_chemical_contamination

Supporting official wording

  1. foreign matter

    Z-1019-2022 · Event 89897

  2. foreign bodies

    Z-1578-2026 · Event 98464

  3. foreign bodies

    Z-1576-2026 · Event 98464

Contributing exact events

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Device software or design

875 exact recall events

Device recall wording explicitly identifies a software, firmware, programming, cybersecurity, or design defect and its failure or consequence.

reason.device_software_design

Supporting official wording

  1. software version V3.0.5, can cause

    Z-0214-2026 · Event 97646

  2. Software anomaly that causes a false display of error

    Z-2554-2026 · Event 99064

  3. firmware and all previous releases that a screen unlock failure

    Z-2513-2026 · Event 98517

Contributing exact events

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Manufacturing or process control

962 exact recall events

Recall wording explicitly identifies cGMP/GMP noncompliance, process-control or validation failure, manufacturing or production error, or assembly-control failure.

reason.manufacturing_process_control

Supporting official wording

  1. assembly issue

    Z-1473-2026 · Event 98354

  2. manufacturing defect

    Z-1907-2025 · Event 96748

  3. manufacturing error

    Z-0927-2023 · Event 91331

Contributing exact events

Derived rule · v1.0.0

Unknown

16,255 exact recall events

A recall reason is available, but none of the published named rules supports a failure-mode interpretation.

reason.no_named_rule

Supporting official wording

  1. Potential damage to the power cord may cause the power conductors to be exposed, thereby creating a risk of shock from the power mains.

    Z-0820-2022 · Event 89644

  2. There is a potential security vulnerability in Centricity Universal Viewer (UV), Centricity PACS-IW (PACS-IW), Centricity Radiology RA600 (RA600), & Centricity Cardiology CA1000 (CA1000) where the service login credentials are able to be identified which could allow a malicious actor with these credentials to access the system and potentially manipulate patient data.

    Z-1485-2025 · Event 96375

  3. Potential damage to the power cord may cause the power conductors to be exposed, thereby creating a risk of shock from the power mains.

    Z-0821-2022 · Event 89644

Contributing exact events

Methodology boundary: source wording remains visible, multiple named modes may apply to one product, and the catalog never converts a match into a confidence score. Review corpus methodology

Field note

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