Sedgwick: European Product Recalls Rose Again Last Year

European product recall activity rose for the seventh straight year in 2025, a new report shows.

Sedgwick released its annual State of the Nation Product Safety and Recall Index report, which shows the

15,608 total recall events last year broke the previous record of 14,484 in 2024.

The European report reviews data from across the United Kingdom and the European Union for five product categories and three sub-categories: automotive, food and beverage, pharmaceutical, medical device, and consumer product—including electronics, clothing, and toys.

Related: Sedgwick: Five Industries Saw Higher US Recall Volumes in 2025

Automotive recalls across the EU and U.K. decreased by 29.3% between the third and fourth quarter. The predominant cause of recalls were injuries with 147 events in the fourth quarter, increasing to 154 when including fire, strangulation and burns. Fire and environmental risks were the next most frequent with 39 and 17 events.

According to Sedgwick, recalls increased year-over-year in every European sector except medical devices. The automotive industry and key consumer product sub-sectors had notable increases of more than 30%, which was a 10-year high for both compared with 2024.

Regulators in the U.K. and EU reported 898 medical device recalls in the fourth quarter of 2025, an increase of 4.4% from 860 in the third quarter. The leading cause of medical device recalls in Europe in the fourth quarter was device failure. Manufacturing defects was the second-most cause of recalls in the quarter and software issues was third.

Related: Sedgwick: European Product Recalls Fall Slightly, But on Pace for Record Year

The food and beverage saw an increase of 1% and the pharmaceutical sector saw an increase of 12%, according to the report.

In 2025, there were 374 pharmaceutical recalls, a 12% increase from 2024 with 334 recalls. Safety was the biggest reason for recalls followed by mislabeling and failed specifications. France, Spain and the U.K. has three most pharmaceutical recalls.

The medical industry saw a year-over-year decline with 5.2% decrease, the report shows.