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It’s like a police lineup for medicines and snacks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration maintains a Flickr album just for pictures of drugs, supplements and pet and people foods it’s recalled from the market. How did we not know this before?

The photo collection is weirdly fun to look at and potentially useful—it encourages you to spot whether anything in the stream looks familiar. We wouldn’t rely on the photostream to keep up to date on recalls, however. Not all the products the FDA recalls make it to Flickr, not by a long shot. To see all recalls, you can read the FDA’s weekly Enforcement Reports. Many recalls also get press releases, which explain the reasons for the recalls a little.

Fun fact: Many government employees and agencies maintain Flickr streams, with which we are mildly obsessed. Some are works of art. Others provide fun looks into history.

The FDA’s recalled products streams are notably utilitarian. While all the photos are clear enough to read, some are just barely so. I mean, really. Can’t you guys try a little harder? There are also some sketchy gems among the photos. However, keep in mind it’s not just “male strength” companies that suffer recalls. Many well-known companies end up having to pull their products from store shelves. Just last month, snack dips from Target and Trader Joe’s were recalled for possibly containing Listeria bacteria and a Whole Foods noodle dish was recalled because the packaging didn’t declare it contained a potential allergen, soybeans.

We made a gallery of our favorite recall photos! Yum. Click here or below to enter the gallery. All these products were recalled this year.

Purity

Purity Organic’s parent company recalled some shipments of these mangos because FDA investigators found Listeria monocytogenes bacteria in a sample they took from the fruits. Listeria monocytogenes can cause fever and diarrhea.

All Ears

Bissinger mis-packaged some of their chocolate bunny ears so that some ears, containing milk, came with ingredients cards that didn’t list milk. Who eats ears only, is what we want to know. Who.

Deluxe Double

Playtex recalled power adaptors for this breast pump “due to potential for electric shock.”

I’m A Very Sexy Monkey

In January, a number of male sexual enhancement products—all made by the same company, under different brand names—were recalled for containing active, prescription, erectile-dysfunction-treating ingredients that they didn’t list on their labels. While it might sound like a deal to get active ED ingredients in an over-the-counter product, it’s sketchy that the ingredients are undeclared. The FDA warns that the undeclared ingredients in Sexy Monkey and the other recalled supplements may interact dangerously with common medications for diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol or heart disease.

It’s Not Confidence You’re Getting

Another brand name operated by the company that recalled products for containing prescription erectile dysfunction ingredients. If I were to take a sketchy sexual performance pill, I would want it to be gold.

Et Tu, Butterballs?

Butterballs contain wheat flour, soy flour, whey and milk, but did not list warnings on their label for these potential allergens. Soy flour and whey aren’t listed as ingredients at all. The L. M. Noodle Company recalled these vividly-named soup dumplings in January.
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