The United States, and most other nations with a robust economy where fast food took hold and never let go, has a sophisticated food safety program in place to protect citizens against tainted food. Foreign objects, food-borne illness, and other harmful things can very easily find its way into the food supply -- particularly in fast-food staples like ground beef, chicken, and vegetables used as toppings -- so there are many government agencies and industry watchdogs that thoroughly test raw materials before they're distributed. And yet, despite all those measures and checks, food can still become infected with inedible materials, bacteria, and viruses. The safety measures restaurants neglect the most come into play, too. Usually, after a few unfortunate victims get their meal ruined or get sick (or even sometimes die), fast food companies and their suppliers will spring into action and issue a recall.

Because they all serve so many people on a daily basis, recalls can affect millions of people. Here are some of the biggest, most widespread recalls in fast food history, the result of utter disasters but which happened quickly enough to prevent more chaos and tragedy.