Food recalls reached their highest level in 2023 since before the pandemic.

According to a report from the Public Interest Research Group, 313 recalls were issued in 2023, an 8% increase from the year prior. Nearly half of these were due to undeclared allergens, while nearly one-quarter were due to outbreaks of salmonella or listeria.

Teresa Murray, a consumer watchdog at the PIRG, criticized manufacturers for what seems like an easily avoidable problem.

“Most problems with food should be easy to avoid. Food producers and packagers just need to focus more on cleanliness and disclose allergens that could make people sick or kill them,” she said. “We should not have to worry about finding shards of metal and plastic or undeclared allergens in the food on our plates. It’s baffling that manufacturers aren’t properly inspecting equipment, testing food, and properly labeling packages before they end up on grocery store shelves.”

The report found that contaminated foods subject to recalls killed six people and sickened over 1,100 last year.

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Undeclared allergens increased by over 27% from 2022. A large portion of these were sesame, which was only recently added to the list of foods requiring allergen notifications, the others being shellfish, eggs, fish, milk, peanuts, soybeans, tree nuts, and wheat.

Though making up a minority of overall recalls, the two largest outbreaks from recalled food were lead-contaminated applesauce, which sickened over 500 children, and salmonella-contaminated cantaloupe, which sickened over 400 people.