Research
UK Food Labelling Recall Index 2021–2026
An analysis of UK Food Standards Agency food and allergy alerts to understand how many recalls relate to undeclared allergens, incorrect labels and packaging mismatches.
- Period
- 2021–2026
- Authors
- Artwork Management UK research team
- Status
- Data in preparation
- Last updated
- Not yet published
Executive summary
This index will analyse official UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) Food Alerts and Allergy Alerts published between 2021 and 2026 to understand how often product recalls and withdrawals are associated with labelling and packaging issues.
The analysis is in preparation. No findings are published until the official dataset has been processed and classified using the rules below.
Charts and data
The charts below will be populated from the processed official dataset. No figures are shown until then.
Label-related food alerts by year, 2021–2026
Data in preparation
Food alerts by labelling classification
Data in preparation
Undeclared allergen alerts by allergen
Data in preparation
Label-related alerts by product type
Data in preparation
Methodology
- All Allergy Alerts (AA), Product Recall Information Notices (PRIN) and Food Alerts for Action (FAFA) in the period will be retrieved from the FSA API.
- Each alert is classified using only the reason stated in the official notice. Articles, press coverage and assumptions about cause are not used.
- Alerts are grouped by year, month, alert type, allergen, product category and classification.
- Duplicate and updated notices are merged into a single incident.
How incidents are classified
- Undeclared allergen
- Official reason states an allergen is present but not declared on the label.
- Missing allergen declaration / incorrect label
- Official reason states the label is incorrect, missing information or in the wrong language.
- Wrong product in packaging
- Official reason states the product inside does not match the packaging.
- Packaging / labelling mismatch
- Official reason states a mismatch between pack components, labels or date codes.
- Other label-related
- Official reason explicitly relates to label content but fits no category above.
- Not label-related
- Contamination, foreign bodies, microbiological issues and other causes.
Limitations
- Official notices record the stated reason for a recall, not its root cause. We do not claim that any recall was caused by an artwork error.
- Not every labelling issue results in a public alert.
- Classification relies on the wording of each notice, which varies in detail.
Sources
- FSA Food Alerts API and data
Food Standards Agency. Primary dataset. Structured alert records including alert type, product, reason and allergens.
- FSA news and alerts
Food Standards Agency. Public alert notices used to verify individual records.
Cite this research
Artwork Management UK (2021–2026). UK Food Labelling Recall Index 2021–2026. https://artworkmanagement.co.uk/research/uk-food-labelling-recall-index
Use our charts
You may reproduce charts from this report once published, provided you credit Artwork Management UK and link to this page.
Press and data requests
Journalists and researchers can request the underlying classified dataset once published via the contact page.
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