Food Labeling Recalls: The Surprising Impact & How to Prevent Them

It can all start with a single, missed ingredient on a label. What seems like a small mistake can kick off a chain reaction of problems. Suddenly, products are being pulled from store shelves, customers are being warned, and a brand's good name is on the line. Undeclared allergens accounted for the majority (34%) of all recalls in 2024, and other undeclared substances accounted for an additional 2.7%.

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While food companies work hard to prevent other safety issues, this highlights a simple truth: a significant portion of risk stems from the words and data on your packaging. Today, people want more than just safe food. They want to know exactly what’s in it, and when it comes to ingredients like common allergens, they're entitled to that information.

Accurate, compliant labels protect both your consumers and your brand.  Luckily, withdrawals triggered by mislabeling — and the associated negative impacts — are easier than you may think to prevent.

Why Labeling Errors Are a Leading Cause of Recalls

According to data from the FDA and USDA, labeling errors consistently cause the highest number of recalls year after year. These aren't just little typos. They're missing pieces of information that can put people's health at risk. The most common problem is when one of the "Big Nine" allergens is in a product but not on the label:

• Eggs
• Fish
• Crustacean Shellfish
• Tree Nuts
• Peanuts
• Wheat
• Soybeans
• Sesame
• Milk

Read More: 5 Tips to Better Manage Food Allergens in Your Supply Chain

How does this happen? Often, it starts with a simple recipe change. Imagine your team starts using a new kind of butter in a cookie recipe. If the new butter contains a soy ingredient but the package label hasn't been updated, you now have an undeclared allergen. Other times, the wrong label is applied to the wrong product entirely. All of these issues can lead to a serious and costly withdrawal event or recall.

Where Do These Labeling Mistakes Come From?

These errors don’t happen out of nowhere. They are usually signs of bigger problems in how a company manages its product information. It’s very common for these mistakes to occur when your team has to enter data manually into different spreadsheets. A single mistake can impact thousands of products. Problems also arise when your teams don't communicate with each other. If the product development team changes a recipe, but the compliance team that is responsible for the label doesn't know, you're heading for trouble.

This risk becomes even greater when you consider your suppliers. You trust them to give you accurate information about their ingredients. However, if they change something without notifying you, that hidden risk is passed directly onto your product and label. On top of all that, government rules about what needs to be on a label are always changing, making it even harder to keep up if you're doing everything manually.

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The Real Cost of a Labeling Recall

When a recall happens, the costs add up quickly, and it's not just about the money. A labeling recall creates problems in many areas of your business. You have the immediate costs of returning the product and disposing of it. You might also face fines for not following labeling rules.

Even worse, these recalls hurt your relationships. Retailers lose sales and have to deal with unhappy customers, which can damage your partnership with them. However, the most significant cost is the loss of trust. It takes years to build a good reputation with your customers. A recall, especially one that puts people's health at risk, can damage that trust in an instant.

Using Smart Labeling to Prevent Recalls

Instead of just reacting to problems, you can get ahead of them by treating your labeling process as a core part of your business. This is where modern food labeling software can completely change the game, transforming a major risk into a strength and aiding in food recall prevention. Think of it as providing your team with a single, trusted source for all your product information.

Watch On-Demand: Tech-Driven Supply Chain Management

When all your ingredient specs, recipes, and supplier details are in one system, the risk of human error drops. Smart software acts like a helpful assistant; it can automatically check your recipes against the latest government regulations and flag any potential allergens. It keeps track of every version of a recipe, so you know the information on the label always matches what’s inside the package. It creates a simple, clear workflow so that no label is printed until it has been seen and approved by the right people.

Be Ready for Anything: Connecting Traceability and Labeling

Even with the best planning, problems can still happen. A supplier might find an issue with one of their ingredients, forcing you to act fast. Your ability to respond quickly depends on the powerful combination of comprehensive food traceability and labeling. When your ingredient information and your final labels are connected, you can see the whole picture. If a supplier alerts you to a problem, you can instantly find out which of your products are affected and if it created a labeling issue.

This connected approach is the future of food safety and aligns with new government regulations on food tracking. By linking your traceability and labeling work today, you build a stronger, more resilient business that is ready for whatever comes next.

Good Labeling Gives You an Edge

In today's market, getting your labels right does more than reduce your risks; it helps you get ahead of your competitors. People care about what they eat and reward brands that are open and honest. When you can provide clear and accurate information, you build powerful trust with both retailers and the customers who purchase your products.

Viewing your labeling as a key part of your strategy shows everyone that you are committed to quality and safety. It demonstrates that you have the right systems in place to protect your brand and customers, positioning you as a leader in the industry.

Is Your Labeling Process Ready for the Challenge?

Every new ingredient and every new recipe is a chance for a mistake to happen. Now is the time to ask yourself: Is our process set up to catch errors, or does it let them slip through? In the modern food world, a perfect label is your promise to your customer and your best defense against a recall.

If you're ready to strengthen your process, we're here to help you get started. You can schedule a demo of Trustwell's Genesis Foods platform to see how a central system can protect your brand, watch our Increasing Labeling Accuracy and Mitigating Risk webinar on-demand, or reach out to our labeling consultants to leverage their expertise for your strategy.