American companies are on pace to recall a record number of products this year.
According to Sedgwick's 2022 Recall Index, companies recalled more than 900 million product units in just the first three months of the year.
That's the highest number of units in a single quarter in the past 10 years. It also eclipses average annual figures recorded across the past decade.
"This quarter alone saw more units recalled by the FDA in the food sector than we saw for the entire year in the previous four years," according to the report. "The pharmaceutical industry saw the highest per quarter number of units in nearly 15 years and every other sector was up compared to Q4 2021, with the exception of USDA."
The report shows the number of consumer product recalls jumped 63.8% in the first quarter of 2022, reaching the highest level in over five years. The number of units recalls increased 161%.
While food recall events initiated by the FDA declined 12.7%, their average size soared 328% to over 1.3 million units. Only one quarter in the past 12 years has experienced recalls greater in size, according to the report.
There were 221 automotive recall events in Q1 2022, which is lower than the quarterly average for 2021. However, the report indicates the number of units recalled rose sharply by 114% to 9.3 million.
The number of recalled medical devices skyrocketed in the first quarter, increasing by 2,624%, according to the report. Average recall sizes exceed 1.5 million units – a level witnessed only once before in the past 15 years.
Additionally, more than 435 million units of pharmaceutical products were recalled in the first quarter, a 15-year high.
The USDA was the only regulator to see the number of recalled units fall in the first quarter of 2022.
Looking ahead, the report indicates that companies are on track to break more than a billion units recalled for only the third time in the last decade. That's partly because agencies are buckling down on holding companies accountable.
"As regulator return to more normal operations and break free from the restrictions that the pandemic put on inspection, we can expect to see the trend of more recalls and impacted units continue," the report says.
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