Quick answer: Check a bacon recall by comparing your package with the affected products in the USDA notice. If your package matches, do not open or eat it. Follow the notice’s return or disposal instructions.

A bacon recall headline is a starting point. The useful details are on the package and in the official notice: which product, which codes, and what consumers should do.

Start with the official recall notice

Open the USDA FSIS recalls and public health alerts page and look for the brand or product named in the warning. FoodSafety.gov also links to official recall notices and alerts.

Read the notice’s date, affected-product details and any updates. An older notice needs the same careful package comparison as a newer one.

Compare the details on your bacon package

Keep the original packaging handy. Compare every identifier supplied in the notice, which may include:

• The brand and full product name.
• Any other package identifiers listed in the notice.
• The use-by, freeze-by or other date specified.
• The establishment (EST) number.

FoodSafety.gov explains that the identifying details must match for a product to be included in that recall. Recognizing the brand alone does not finish the check.

If your package is included

Leave it unopened and do not eat it. Read the exact notice for instructions on returning or disposing of the product. Do not give recalled food to someone else or feed it to a pet, according to FoodSafety.gov’s recalled-product guidance.

If you cannot read or find a package code

Use the contact information in the recall notice to ask about the product. A missing label or unreadable code leaves the package match unresolved; the brand name by itself cannot settle it.