How Food and Drug Recalls Happen

So Joe made a comment to me along the lines of "The reason that you heard about this recall (Peter Pan PB) was because it's a big company." I'm not sure if he was implying that bigger companies are safer than smaller companies or if he was saying that there are more recalls than this but you never hear about them because it's not a nationwide problem. Well, that inspired me to go investigating via Google and I came up with the following information:

FROM http://www.nfsmi.org/Information/recallmanual.pdf
Who regulates food products?
The type of food product determines which Federal agency is responsible for regulation.
• Meat and poultry products – The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) of the USDA inspects and regulates meat and poultry products. FSIS is responsible for ensuring that meat and poultry products are safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged.
• Pasteurized egg products produced in federally inspected plants – Pasteurized egg products are eggs that have been removed from their shells for further processing. FSIS is responsible for inspecting the products while they are in the manufacturing plant. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) assumes responsibility for pasteurized egg products after they leave the processing plant.
• All other food products – All other food products, except those regulated by FSIS, fall under the regulatory authority of the FDA which is responsible for ensuring that the foods are safe, wholesome, and correctly labeled and packaged. However, because FSIS is the primary agency for commodity foods, they act as the liaison agency in all recalls of commodity foods including those regulated by FDA.


This is a listing of all recalled products – put out weekly
http://www.fda.gov/opacom/enforce.html
FDA Enforcement Report Index
The FDA Enforcement Report is published weekly by the Food and Drug Administration. It contains information on actions taken in connection with agency regulatory activities. Inquiries about individual actions should be directed to the companies involved.
Recall and Field Correction: Action taken by a firm to either remove a product from the market or to conduct a field correction. Recalls may be conducted on a firm's own initiative, by FDA request, or by FDA order under statutory authority.
A Class I recall is a situation in which there is a reasonable probability that the use of or exposure to a violative product will cause serious adverse health consequences or death.
A Class II recall is a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequences or where the probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.
A Class III recall is a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product is not likely to cause adverse health consequences.
This is the most recent report : http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/enforce/2007/ENF00991.html

This site also lists recalls
http://www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/index.asp
Who regulates food products? The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) within the U.S. Department of Agriculture inspects and regulates meat, poultry and processed egg products produced in federally inspected plants. FSIS is responsible for ensuring that these products are safe, wholesome, and accurately labeled. All other food products are regulated by the Department of Health and Human Services' Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
What is a food recall? A food recall is a voluntary action by a manufacturer or distributor to protect the public from products that may cause health problems or possible death. A recall is intended to remove food products from commerce when there is reason to believe the products may be adulterated or misbranded.Who decides when a recall is necessary?Recalls are initiated by the manufacturer or distributor of the meat or poultry, sometimes at the request of FSIS. All recalls are voluntary. However, if a company refuses to recall its products, then FSIS has the legal authority to detain and seize those products in commerce.
How are unsafe products discovered? There are four, primary means by which unsafe or improperly labeled meat and poultry products come to the attention of FSIS:
1 - The company that manufactured or distributed the food informs FSIS of the potential hazard;
2 - Test results received by FSIS as part of its sampling program indicate that the products are adulterated, or, in some situations, misbranded;
3 - FSIS field inspectors and program investigators, in the course of their routine duties, discover unsafe or improperly labeled foods; and
4 - Epidemiological data submitted by State or local public health departments, or other Federal agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reveal unsafe, unwholesome or inaccurately labeled food.
As soon as FSIS learns that a potentially unsafe or mislabeled meat or poultry product is in commerce, the Agency conducts a preliminary investigation to determine whether there is a need for a recall.
What occurs during a preliminary investigation? The preliminary investigation may include some or all of the following steps:
Contacting the manufacturer of the food for more information;
Interviewing any consumers who allegedly became ill or injured from eating the suspect food;
Collecting and analyzing food samples;
Collecting and verifying information about the suspected food;
Discussions with FSIS field inspection and compliance personnel;
Contacting State and local health departments; and
Documenting a chronology of events.
How does FSIS notify the public when a product is recalled? FSIS notifies the public through a press release for Class I and Class II recalls, and a Recall Notification Report (RNR) for Class III recalls. (The RNR provides substantially the same information as the press release; however, the format is different.) The press release is issued to media outlets in the areas where the product was distributed, and is also distributed through an email listserv. The press release or RNR is posted on the FSIS Web site. When possible, FSIS also includes pictures of the recalled product as part of the online recall press release. Recall press releases and RNRs are posted on the FSIS Recalls area of the Web site, at www.fsis.usda.gov/Fsis_Recalls/Open_Federal_Cases/index.asp.


other information on why and how food recalls happen:
http://www.fda.gov/fdac/features/895_recalls.html

http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~lrd/recall2.html

http://ohioline.osu.edu/aex-fact/0251.html