• Establishment Salmonella share relative to own mean predicts recalls better than Salmonella share. • Salmonella shares at ground beef standard makes establishment 12 percent more likely to have recall. • Establishments with multiple recalls have high Salmonella shares and may need a food safety audit by FSIS. • Typical ground beef establishments with recalls have Salmonella shares 80 percent greater than the mean. • Establishments with firm initiated recalls or are small have industry average Salmonella shares. The Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) initiated 1,073 recalls of meat and poultry products that could cause severe illness or death over 2000–2019. These recalls led to substantial drops in demand that vary by the characteristics of the recall (Zhou and Liu, 2023) and incentivized firms to invest in food safety (Ollinger and Houser, 2020). Following Zhou and Liu (2023) and Ollinger and Houser (2020) , this paper examines differences in food safety process control for establishments with different recall characteristics and contrasts that performance with establishments without recalls. Results show that (1) Salmonella share relative to an establishment's own mean Salmonella share outperforms Salmonella share alone in estimating the likelihood of a recall, (2) 27 percent rather than 12 percent of establishments would have failed to meet the Salmonella standard if a proposed but not yet mandated more stringent standard had been in effect, and (3) most establishments return to normal operating conditions after a recall, but establishments with multiple recalls struggle to regain control of food safety, suggesting they may benefit from an audit of their food safety systems by FSIS or an auditor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]