Food recalls in EU – Week 3/2015

This week on the EU RASFF (Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed) we can find the following notifications:

1. Alerts followed by a recall from consumers:

– Foreign bodies: glass fragments in dip-sauce from Germany, following consumer complaint. Notified by Germany, distributed also in Austria, Luxembourg, Romania, Slovenia and Spain;

– Foreign bodies: plastic fragments in frozen dino-shaped chicken nuggets from the Netherlands, following company’s own check. Notified by Germany;

– Foreign bodies: metal pieces (2 spiral, sharp-edged pieces) in ham sausage from Germany, following a consumer complaint. Notified by Germany, distributed also to Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Finland, Romania and Spain;

– Pesticide residues: unauthorised substance carbofuran (0.035 mg/kg – ppm) in limes from Brazil, following company’s own check. Notified by France, distributed also to Netherlands.

2. Information for attention/for follow up followed by a recall from consumers:

– Industrial contaminants: benzo(a)pyrene (65 µg/kg – ppb) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (330 µg/kg – ppb) in cocoa from the Netherlands, dispatched from Bosnia and Herzegovina, following a border control. Notified by Slovenia.

3. Alerts followed by a withdrawal from the market:

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Salmonella enteritidis (presence /25g) in chilled chicken fillets from Belgium, with raw material from the Netherlands, following company’s own check. Notified by Belgium, distributed also to United Kingdom;

– Allergens: undeclared soya (>100 mg/kg – ppm) in candies from Hungary, following an official control on the market. Notified by Slovakia.

4. Seizures:

None

5. Border rejections:

• unauthorised substance dichlorvos (0.04 mg/kg – ppm) in dried beans from Nigeria
• FCM:too high level of overall migration (55 mg/dm²) from vegetables cutting items from China
• FCM: migration of bis(2-ethylhexyl) terephthalate (DOTP) (420 mg/kg – ppm) from lids of jars containing chili paste from Thailand
•  aflatoxins (B1 = 21; Tot. = 25.1 µg/kg – ppb) in peanut kernels from China
• unauthorised substances trichlorphon (0.13 mg/kg – ppm) and dichlorvos (0.20 mg/kg – ppm) in dried sweet beans from Nigeria
• too high content of vitamin B6 (50 mg/item) in food supplement from the United States
• FEED: aflatoxins (B1 = 104 µg/kg – ppb) in shelled groundnuts for birdfeed from Brazil
• oxamyl (0.026 mg/kg – ppm) and lambda-cyhalothrin (0.11 mg/kg – ppm) in mix chillies from Egypt
• malathion (0.044 mg/kg – ppm) in sweet peppers from Turkey
• chlorpyrifos (0.28 mg/kg – ppm) and propamocarb (2 mg/kg – ppm) in artichoke (Cynara scolimus) from Tunisia
• carbendazim (0.89 mg/kg – ppm) in dragon fruit from Vietnam
• aflatoxins (B1 = 19.84; Tot. = 23.12 µg/kg – ppb) in nutmeg from Turkey
• Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in hulled sesame seeds from India
• unauthorised placing on the market of food supplements containing Stephania or Chelidonium majus from Vietnam and Ukraine
• Salmonella Senftenberg (presence /25g) in sesame seeds from India
• chlorpyrifos (0.16 mg/kg – ppm) in mint from Morocco
• too high content of sulphite (3305 mg/kg – ppm) in dried apricots from Turkey
• Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in frozen chicken meat preparation from Brazil
• aflatoxins (B1 = 14.3 µg/kg – ppb) in dried figs from Turkey
• aflatoxins (B1 = 11.7; Tot. = 12.2 µg/kg – ppb) in red chilli from Pakistan
• unauthorised substances monocrotophos (0.04 mg/kg – ppm) and profenofos (0.12 mg/kg – ppm) in okra from India
• carbaryl (0.20 mg/kg – ppm) in green tea from China
• aflatoxins (Tot. = 12 µg/kg – ppb) in hazelnuts from Turkey
• aflatoxins (B1 = 22; Tot. = 27 µg/kg – ppb) in roasted salted pistachios from Turkey
• too high content of sulphite (2690 mg/kg – ppm) in dried apricots from Turkey
• undeclared sulphite in dried apricots from Turkey
• prohibited substance chloramphenicol (0.38 µg/kg – ppb) in frozen shrimps (Penaeus vannamei) from Vietnam
• Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in betel leaves from India
• shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (presence) in frozen beef (Bos taurus) from Brazil
• Salmonella Mbandaka (presence /25g) in sesame seeds from India
• missing import declaration for dates, figs, walnuts and nuts mix from Turkey
• unauthorised substance dinotefuran (0.025 mg/kg – ppm) in chilled strawberries from Egypt
• flusilazole (0.054 mg/kg – ppm) in white peppers from Egypt
• acetamiprid (0.057 mg/kg – ppm) in pomegranates from Turkey