Food Safety for Consumers

General Information

Food safety is everyone's job. It starts at the farm and ends at your table. We license and inspect about 30,000 food-related businesses: dairy farms, plants, and trucks; slaughter plants and meat processors; food processors, wholesalers, retailers, and warehouses. We do not license and inspect restaurants; the Wisconsin Department of Health handles that.

Your part in keeping food safe in knowing how to handle it properly. It's all about temperature, separation, and cleanliness.

You can find recall information here. There are thousands of recalls every year. Many are localized to one small part of the country. Most do not have any illnesses associated with them. They occur because routine inspection and testing finds contamination that might have found its way into products. Many of the recalls are because of labeling issues: allergens such as soy, wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, milk and shellfish must be listed on labels.