Food recalls in EU – Week 20 – 2014

This week on the RASFF database (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed) we have four recalls from consumers in EU in the alert notification:

– Heavy metals: mercury in frozen sliced swordfish, following an official control on the market. Origin Spain, notified by Italy;

– Heavy metals: mercury in frozen swordfish fillets, following an official control on the market. Origin Portugal, notified by Italy;

– Composition: risk of overdosage with nicotinic acid from food supplement, following an official control on the market. Origin United Kingdom (via Netherlands), notified by France;

– Foreign bodies: glass fragments in pitted green olives, following a consumer complaint. Origin Spain, notified by United Kingdom.

Between the information for attention and the information for follow-up, we find two recalls from consumers:

– Composition: unauthorised substance magnesium aspartate in food supplement, following an official control on the market. Origin Sweden, notified by Finland;

– Pathogenic micro-organism: Salmonella Spp. in sausages, following a food poisoning. Origin Spain, notified by France.

Between the alert notifications, followed by a withdrawal from the market of the product, we find:

– Allergens: undeclared soya in spicy pate, following an official control on the market. Origin Poland, notified by Slovakia;

– Composition: high content of morphine in blue poppy seeds, following an official control in non-member country. Origin France (packaged in Slovakia, via Czech Republic), notified by Czech Republic;

– Heavy metals: cadmium in murex sea snails, following an official control on the market. Origin Italy, notified by Italy, distributed also to Hungary;

– Heavy metals: mercury in frozen swordfish, following an official control on the market. Origin Portugal, notified by Spain;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: foodborne outbreak suspected to be caused by cherry tomatoes, following a food poisoning. Origin Morocco (via France), notified by France, distributed also to Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, Slovakia and United Kingdom;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli in frozen minced meat, following company’s own check. Origin Italy, notified by France.

Regarding border rejections we have, first of all, an recall from consumers for:

– Pesticides residues: carbendazim in parboiled basmati rice, following a border control. Origin India, notified by Italy;

Among the others, we have moreover,  aflatoxins in shelled almonds from the United States, groundnuts from China, in pistachio kernels from Syria, via Turkey, in groundnuts in shell from Egypt and in groundnut kernels from India, absence of certified analytical report for fig jam from Turkey, attempt to illegally import shelled groundnuts from Ghana and paan/betel leaves from Bangladesh, dead insects (maggots) in and poor hygienic state of brown and red beans from Nigeria, procymidone in yardlong beans from Thailand, carbendazim in parboiled basmati rice from India, cadmium in frozen cooked mussels from Chile, norovirus in chilled clams from Tunisia, too high content of sulphite in dried fruit (kiwi slices) from China, prohibited substance nitrofuran (metabolite) furazolidone (AOZ) in frozen shrimps from India, residue level above MRL for tetracycline  in frozen shrimps from Vietnam, poor temperature control of frozen tuna from the Seychelles, undeclared egg in frozen crab sticks and lobster tails (surimi) and in frozen surimi preparations from China.

For feed, we don’t have any relevant notification this week.

For food contact materials we have an information for attention notification, followed by a recall from consumers:

– Migration of formaldehyde and too high level of overall migration in melamine ware, following an official control on the market. Origin China, notified by Cyprus.

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