What Does a USDA Class II Recall Mean?

A Class II recall is a situation where eating the product maycause adverse health consequences, but the probability of serious harm is remote. It's the middle tier of FSIS's three-level classification system.

Common Causes of Class II Recalls

• Minor labeling errors, such as missing or incorrect ingredient statements that don't involve major allergens
• Foreign material that poses a low choking or injury risk
• Products that may contain a pathogen at levels unlikely to cause serious illness in healthy people
• Underprocessing issues that have a low likelihood of resulting in harmful contamination

What to Do If You Have a Class II Recalled Product

1. Check the recall notice to see if your specific product, lot, or date code is affected
2. When in doubt, don't eat it — return it to the store or discard it
3. Watch for symptoms if you've already consumed the product, particularly if you're in a higher-risk group

Class II vs. Class I and Class III

• Class I — reasonable probability of serious health consequences or death. See our Class I guide
• Class II — health consequences are remote or unlikely to be serious
• Class III — not likely to cause adverse health consequences. See our Class III guide

Finding Class II Recalls

Use our USDA recalls search to filter for Class II recalls by category, status, or product name.