Organic food accounts for 7 percent of all food units recalled this year, compared to 2 percent in 2014, according to Stericycle, a company that handles recalls, reports the New York Times. The upturn in organic recalls is part of an overall increase in the amount of food recalled for suspected contamination by harmful bacteria, said Stericycle. Its figures were based on data from the FDA and the USDA. The Organic Trade Association says organic products account for 4.9 percent of food recalls, roughly the same as organic’s share of the food market. Sales of organic food are rising more rapidly than conventional foods. An OTA official told the Times that food-safety mechanisms have been strengthened since 2012, which has led to more recalls as well.
Stericycle and OTA used different ways to calculate their figures, said the Times story by Stephanie Strom. For example, Stericycle counted each of the 500,000 units of spinach that were recalled in March as individual incidents. OTA says the recalls count as a single incident. Food-safety attorney Bill Marler said a single large recall could distort yearly data. “You have to watch what happens over time,” Marler told the Times, to know if there is trend or an aberration.