Incident Severity#
Incident severity is rated from 1 to 5 stars using a conservative reading of confirmed public facts.
- 1 star: labeling, advertising, minor exceedance, recall, or enforcement action with no confirmed casualties or broad health impact.
- 2 stars: illegal additives, contamination, expired or spoiled products, or larger recalls with limited confirmed harm.
- 3 stars: multiple illnesses, cross-region spread, sustained sales, major enforcement action, or large exposure with few or no deaths.
- 4 stars: deaths, severe poisoning, high-risk groups such as infants or pregnant consumers, or national-scale exposure.
- 5 stars: multiple deaths, systemic long-running violations, extremely broad exposure, or widely recognized major public food safety events.
Company Aggregate Rating#
Company ratings run from 1 to 10 stars and aggregate all linked incidents:
severity_points = severity_stars ^ 2
people_multiplier = min(3, 1 + log10(max(affected_count, injury_count * 10, death_count * 100, 1)) / 6)
duration_multiplier = 1 + min(duration_days, 3650) / 3650
role_multiplier = 1.0 direct company, 0.7 parent or brand/licensor, 0.5 indirect party
incident_points = severity_points * people_multiplier * duration_multiplier * role_multiplier
company_stars = ceil(10 * (1 - exp(-raw_points / 120)))When public records do not provide complete affected-population or duration figures, the dataset uses conservative estimates and keeps source links on the incident page.