Methodology

1. Data principles

WhoMadeMyFood prefers an unresolved relationship over an unsupported relationship. Public pages show official records with their original context and a verification status only when that status is stored.

WhoMadeMyFood is an independent service. USDA and FSIS do not endorse WhoMadeMyFood, and identifying a government source does not imply agency affiliation.

WhoMadeMyFood does not use USDA or FSIS seals or logos and does not present agency marks as a sign of endorsement.

• Prefer official downloadable datasets and APIs over secondary summaries.
• Do not infer ownership, brand manufacturing, outbreaks, or safety scores.
• Keep recalls, sampling, inspection tasks, and directory identity as separate concepts.

2. Source acquisition

Each bulk dataset is reviewed for technical structure, reuse terms, and limitations before it can feed public pages. Imports are archived and recorded in an internal import log. Only reviewed source files may be published.

Current imported families are the FSIS directory, FSIS Recall API, imported Raw Beef Product Sampling fiscal years, imported Livestock Humane Handling and Poultry Good Commercial Practices inspection quarters, and openFDA food enforcement recall records.

3. Normalization

Source rows are normalized so identifiers, names, and dates can be stored consistently. Normalization does not invent missing fields. Establishment numbers keep grant letters and suffix letters because those are identity-significant.

4. Canonical establishments

WhoMadeMyFood's normalized entity used to connect official records referring to the same establishment. One imported FSIS directory row is matched to one canonical establishment by official USDA identifiers first, then by an existing source-record mapping.

Names and addresses are not used to merge facilities. If identifiers already belong to two different establishments, the row is quarantined instead of being silently combined.

5. Establishment identifiers

Public search accepts typed USDA marks such as M, P, G, I, and V, and also generic EST numbers. A generic EST match is shown only when every matching typed grant belongs to one establishment.

A facility may hold more than one grant. Multiple identifiers on a plant page belong to the same canonical establishment when the directory says they do.

6. Exact-match strategy

Sampling, inspection, and recall plant links use exact establishment-number matching. WhoMadeMyFood does not fuzzy-match plant names to create those links.

Generic EST values are stored, but they create a public plant link only when they resolve to exactly one canonical establishment. Ambiguous generic numbers stay unmatched.

7. Relationship verification

Verified: The relationship or fact is directly supported by strong authoritative evidence appropriate to that claim.

Supported by source data: Evidence supports the relationship or fact, but it does not meet the project's highest verification standard.

Public pages show only verified and supported relationships. Disputed or unknown statuses stay unpublished. Supported is not upgraded to verified automatically, and a brand is never linked to a plant because names or products look related.

8. Recall linkage

Recall association is based on official recall data and the evidence used by the matcher. A recall does not automatically establish that every product made by a facility was affected.

A USDA FSIS recall is linked to a plant only when the official notice names a USDA establishment number that matches a canonical identifier. The page then says the notice is associated with that establishment. WhoMadeMyFood does not say the plant caused the recall. An FDA recalling-firm name, city, or address is not enough to attach that FDA record to an FSIS plant.

Products listed from linked FSIS recall records are historical mentions. They are not a current or complete catalog of what an establishment manufactures, and they do not imply overall facility safety.

A product appears on a plant page only when the recall is linked to that one establishment. If a notice names more than one establishment, WhoMadeMyFood does not assign that recall's products to any plant.

If a notice attributes an establishment number to another country, that jurisdiction is recorded and the number is not looked up in the USDA FSIS directory.

9. Sampling linkage

Sampling events are specific FSIS sampling records. A positive or negative sample must not be turned into an overall facility safety score. Sampling data must not automatically imply a recall or outbreak.

The current public sampling section uses matched Raw Beef Product Sampling records from the fiscal years WhoMadeMyFood has imported. Plants without a linked record in those files omit the section. That omission is not evidence that FSIS never sampled the plant.

10. Inspection-task linkage

These pages show only the specific published inspection-task datasets currently imported, not all USDA inspections. A Noncompliance Record is not a recall, outbreak, or overall safety status. Absence of a Noncompliance Record is not a safety certification.

The current public inspection section uses matched Livestock Humane Handling and Poultry Good Commercial Practices tasks from the fiscal quarters WhoMadeMyFood has imported. Each task shows the date, fiscal period, inspection type, shift, task code, and the regulations FSIS recorded as checked. A Noncompliance Record number is shown when FSIS published one. Inspector narratives are not published. These datasets are not a complete USDA inspection history.

11. Unmatched records

A source record that WhoMadeMyFood has not confidently connected to a canonical entity. Unmatched sampling, inspection, and recall identifier records are retained for data quality. They are not shown as if they belong to a public plant.

Leaving a record unmatched is an intentional trust decision, not a missing feature on the plant page.

12. Historical limitations

Directory records represent official establishment information from the imported FSIS snapshot. Establishment identifiers and names can change over time. WhoMadeMyFood does not yet provide complete historical directory snapshots.

Recall notices can be retained after they leave a later source snapshot. Sampling and inspection coverage is limited to the imported periods. The site does not yet reconstruct a complete historical timeline for every establishment.

13. Provenance

A record from an official source dataset. Internally, WhoMadeMyFood stores source dataset keys, source-record identities, import runs, and hashes needed to reproduce an import.

Public pages show attribution, official notice or dataset links when available, and freshness facts that are actually present. Private payloads, hashes, import identifiers, and relationship evidence text are not published.

14. Corrections

Possible errors can be reported through the corrections page. Reports are reviewed against authoritative sources. Official government facts are not silently rewritten, even when a later real-world change has not yet appeared in an imported snapshot.

15. What WhoMadeMyFood does not infer

WhoMadeMyFood does not publish safety scores, compliance scores, plant rankings, or safe/unsafe labels. Public records are shown with their original context.

WhoMadeMyFood shows company and brand relationships only when evidence and a public verification status are recorded. A brand is never linked to a plant merely because names or products appear related.

• Brand → plant manufacturing without a stored brand-establishment relationship, including through a company that owns the brand and operates a plant.
• That a recall affected every product from a facility.
• That products mentioned in a linked recall are currently manufactured at the establishment, or that a multi-establishment recall's products belong to every named plant.
• Brand or company product catalogs from a recall mention or from a company that operates the plant.
• That a sample result or Noncompliance Record is an outbreak, recall, or facility grade.
• That missing sampling or inspection rows mean FSIS never reviewed the plant.
• FDA facility registration, inspections, warning letters, or import alerts.
• That an FDA recalling firm is a canonical company, brand owner, manufacturer, or plant.
• That an FDA product description is a canonical product or current retail listing.
• A cross-agency safety score, or that FDA Class I/II/III means the same thing as USDA FSIS Class I/II/III.
• That a recall-derived product page is a current retail listing, current manufacturer record, or proof a plant still makes that product.

16. Historical product pages

Product pages are historical identities derived from official USDA FSIS recall records. They are not a current retail catalog, current manufacturer listing, UPC identity, or safety rating.

A product identity is created only when an official recall product description can be reduced to a stable, non-generic name by deterministic rules. Package, lot, date, and quantity language may be removed when the pattern is explicit. Distinct product qualifiers such as raw, cooked, frozen, species, flavor, organic, smoked, and ready-to-eat stay separate.

Approved Step 20 brand candidates may appear as “Brand mentioned in recall record” when the same recall evidence names that brand. That mention does not create a canonical brand or ownership edge. A recalling firm is labeled only as the recalling firm. A plant is shown only when the supporting recall is linked to one establishment, and then only as a linked establishment in that historical recall.

17. USDA FSIS and FDA jurisdiction

USDA FSIS primarily regulates meat, poultry, and egg products within its jurisdiction. FDA covers many other food categories. A facility can appear in one system, both, or neither. WhoMadeMyFood does not imply that every food facility appears in both systems.

Source authority and source-specific identifiers stay distinct. An FDA firm identifier is never treated as a USDA EST number. A public plant link from an FDA record requires an EST-wrapped typed USDA identifier such as EST. P-19979. Standalone product codes, flour grades, and Est. 1885-style founding years are not establishment numbers. Name, city, street, or brand similarity may be stored later as an internal candidate only and is never enough for a public cross-agency link.

FDA recall records come from openFDA food enforcement reports. A recalling firm listed by FDA is source text, not a canonical company, brand, manufacturer, or plant. FDA product descriptions are recall evidence, not current catalog products. FDA Class I, II, and III are not the same as USDA FSIS classifications and are not a cross-agency safety score. Firm-name or address similarity is not enough to link an FDA record to a USDA FSIS establishment. A public plant link requires an EST-wrapped typed USDA identifier such as EST. P-19979, not a product grade or founding year.

FDA enforcement records can change after first publication. The importer updates the same recall_number identity while retaining source snapshots, retrieved_at, and import history. openFDA also states that recall status is not a complete lifecycle tracker after classification.