A recall involving more than one million bags of cheese may sound dramatic, but it’s hardly unusual in the U.S. food system, where hundreds of products are under various levels of recall at any time.

Several shredded cheese products sold in Georgia have been recalled after the FDA announced that more than one million bags sold in the U.S. may contain small metal fragments.

On December 1, the FDA elevated the recall to a Class II, meaning “a situation in which use of or exposure to a violative product may cause temporary or medically reversible adverse health consequence...