RecallSwiss: the Confederation's app that alerts you!!

RecallSwiss: the Confederation's app that warns you when a product is dangerous!!

A few weeks ago, an acquaintance told me a story that made me think. He had bought some frozen herbs at Aldi. He had been using them in his cooking for days. Then he discovered they had been recalled from the market due to bacterial contamination. No one had warned him. The receipt had ended up in the bin, and he had never read the store's flyer. What if he had a small child at home?

Stories like this happen more often than we imagine. In 2024, Swiss authorities published 24 public warnings and 65 product recalls involving both food and everyday objects. Toys with parts that detach, biscuits with toxic substances, contaminated cosmetics. Products that sit on the shelves of our supermarkets—Migros, Coop, Denner. And yet, most of us never hear anything about it.

There is a free tool, created by the Confederation, that solves this problem. It is called RecallSwiss. You can find it at www.recallswiss.admin.ch. It is the site I recommend you save to your phone's favorites today.

RecallSwiss is a web app. This means you don't need to look for it in an app store. It opens directly from your mobile or computer browser, like a normal website. The difference is that it installs with one click and stays there, ready to send you notifications every time the authorities report a dangerous product in Switzerland.

Let’s look at some concrete examples. In February 2026, a Basmati rice sold by Denner was reported for pesticide residues exceeding limits. In January, a Bio-Power Mix product from Migros contained salmonella. At the end of 2025, some Italian biscuits, Sapori di Siena's Amaretti Morbidi, showed levels of hydrocyanic acid that were too high. Also in 2026, Action recalled children's figurines because the filling could contain asbestos. Those who had RecallSwiss on their phones received the alert. Those who didn’t continued eating that rice or letting their children play with those figurines.

Now I’ll explain how to sign up. It takes less than two minutes.

Activate the notification service. Go to www.recallswiss.admin.ch/alert. There you can choose whether to receive alerts via email or SMS. Enter your address or phone number. Confirm. From that moment on, every time a product sold in Switzerland is recalled, you will receive a message.

Another thing: use the search function. Did you buy a toy at a flea market and want to check that it hasn't been recalled? Open RecallSwiss and search for it. The database contains all safety warnings published by the federal authorities.

There is also another feature that few people know about. If you notice a product that seems dangerous to you, you can report it directly from the app. Your report reaches the competent authority electronically. RecallSwiss also includes an "Authority Search" that tells you with just a few clicks who to contact for a specific type of product.

Several federal authorities work together behind RecallSwiss: the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, the Federal Consumer Affairs Bureau, the FOPH, SECO, and other entities. It is not a private initiative; it is not a commercial app. It is a free public service designed for the safety of those living in Switzerland.

I’m telling you from experience: since I installed RecallSwiss, I receive on average a couple of notifications per month. Sometimes they concern products I’m not interested in. But at least once, it happened that I had a reported item in my home. Without that warning, I never would have known.

Two minutes of your time to install RecallSwiss can make a difference. For you and for those who live with you.

 The official website is www.recallswiss.admin.ch. Do it now, before turning the page.

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