Recall Date Guide

A practical guide to the date fields that appear around FDA recall records, written for people comparing a notice against a package, prescription, device sticker, or source record.

FDA Report Date

The report date is when the enforcement record appears in FDA reporting. It can be later than the company's first recall action, and it is not the same thing as when a product was made, bought, shipped, or used.

Recall Initiation Date

The initiation date is when the recalling firm began the recall action. It can help explain how long a recall has been underway, but it does not prove whether a specific item in a home, clinic, pantry, pharmacy, or workplace is included.

Expiration And Use-By Dates

Expiration, best-by, sell-by, use-by, manufacture, and device service dates are label clues. Match them only against the specific instructions or code fields in the source record or firm notice, because date wording can differ by product type.

Do Not Rely On One Date

A date match is usually weaker than an exact lot, batch, serial, model, UDI, UPC, NDC, recall number, or event ID match. Treat dates as filters that help you keep checking, not as proof by themselves.

Use Dates With Stronger Clues

Start with the private match checker, then compare the product name, firm, lot/code details, FDA identifiers, distribution text, and source record. The report-date index groups loaded records by FDA report date, while the initiation-date index groups them by when the recall action began.

For a careful next step, use the label check guide, field guide, identifier guide, quantity guide, and recall action checklist. For how NYN chooses and ranks records, read the methodology note.

When a possible match affects medicine, a medical device, severe allergy risk, infant feeding, urgent symptoms, or clinical care, confirm with FDA, the recalling firm, a pharmacist, a clinician, or the source instructions before acting.