U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

About CPSC recalls

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) oversees the safety of more than 15,000 categories of consumer products — toys, baby gear, kitchen appliances, furniture, recreational equipment, electronics, batteries, and most household goods. CPSC excludes anything covered by another federal agency: food, drugs, cars, firearms, boats. If it's something a household buys and uses, and no other agency owns it, CPSC owns it.

Unlike FDA and USDA, the vast majority of CPSC recalls are voluntary corrective actions negotiated between the agency and the manufacturer. CPSC publishes the joint announcement on its press-release feed; that's what The Recall Desk ingests. Hazards skew toward fire risk (especially lithium-ion batteries and small appliances), choking risk for juvenile products, fall risk for furniture and infant carriers, lead-paint violations on imported goods, and recently a rising count of magnet-set ingestion recalls.

The announcement always lists the model number, the date range of affected units, where the product was sold, and the remedy — usually a free replacement, a refund, or a free repair kit. If you bought a recalled product, save the receipt and check the manufacturer's website for the claim form before disposing of the item.