Food recalls in EU – Week 8/2015

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:

– Allergens: undeclared almond (>18 mg/kg – ppm) in spice mix from Sweden, via the United Kingdom, following company’s own check. Notified by United Kingdom, distributed also to France, Ireland and Malta;

– Biocontaminants: atropine (0.062 mg/kg – ppm) and scopolamine (0.033 mg/kg – ppm) in brown millet from Austria, following an official control on the market. Notified by Austria, distributed also to Germany;

– Mycotoxins: aflatoxins (B1 = 7.02 µg/kg – ppb) in basmati rice from Belgium, manufactured in France, following an official control on the market. Notified by Luxembourg;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Listeria monocytogenes (480 CFU/g) in extra tenderloin slices (lomo) from Spain, following a company’s own check. Notified by France, distributed also to Belgium and Luxembourg.

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

None

3. Alerts followed by a withdrawal from the market:

– Biocontaminats: atropine (156.2; 207.5 µg/kg – ppb) and scopolamine (27.2; 31.3 µg/kg – ppb) in organic polenta cornmeal from Germany, following an official control on the market. Notified by Germany, distributed also to Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Croatia, Estonia, France, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland;

– Foreign bodies: microchip in pig carcasses from Italy, following an official control on the market. Notified by Italy, distributed also to Austria, Monaco and Romania;

– Unauthorised novel food ingredient aegeline (presence) in super thermo powder from the United States, following an official control on the market. Notified by Germany, distributed also to Netherlands;

– Veterinary drug residues (14600 µg/kg – ppb) in various cuts of ovine meat from the United Kingdom, following an official control on the market. Notified by United Kingdom, distributed also to France and Ireland.

4. Seizures:

• In Belgium we had a seizure of honey from China for fraudulent health certificate(s)  and of chilled beef steaks from Ireland for shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (stx+, eae+).

5. Border rejections:

• acetamiprid (0.953 mg/kg – ppm) in fresh peppers from Turkey
• aflatoxins (B1 = 27; Tot. = 35 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnuts and peanut kernels (B1 = 3; Tot. = 3.5 µg/kg – ppb) from India
• aflatoxins (B1 = 3.38 / B1 = 3.46 µg/kg – ppb) in blanched groundnuts and peanuts in shell (B1 = 78.9; Tot. = 93.5 µg/kg – ppb) from China
• aflatoxins (B1 = 4; Tot. = 15.2 mg/kg – ppm) in roasted chopped hazelnuts and in pistachio nuts (Tot. = 17.16 µg/kg – ppb) from Turkey
• ochratoxin A (61 µg/kg – ppb) in raisins from Afghanistan
• chlorpyrifos (0.44 mg/kg – ppm), penconazole (0.063 mg/kg – ppm), iprodione (0.290 mg/kg – ppm), acetamiprid (0.016 mg/kg – ppm), tebuconazole (0.18 mg/kg – ppm), tetraconazole (0.052 mg/kg – ppm), esfenvalerate (0.12 mg/kg – ppm), indoxacarb (0.15 mg/kg – ppm), dimethomorph (0.06 mg/kg – ppm), difenoconazole (0.073 mg/kg – ppm), azoxystrobin (0.50 mg/kg – ppm), boscalid (0.5 mg/kg – ppm), kresoxim-methyl (0.05 mg/kg – ppm), pyraclostrobin (0.05 mg/kg – ppm), emamectin (0.016 mg/kg – ppm) and fluopyram (0.058 mg/kg – ppm) and unauthorised substances carbendazim (0.24 mg/kg – ppm), carbaryl (0.019 mg/kg – ppm) and fenbutatin oxide (5.4 mg/kg – ppm) in vine leaves in brine from Turkey
• chlorpyrifos (12 mg/kg – ppm), pyridaben (2.0 mg/kg – ppm) and acetamiprid (1.6 mg/kg – ppm) and unauthorised substance chlorfenapyr (2.1` mg/kg – ppm) in broccoli from China
• chlorpyrifos-methyl (0.38 mg/kg – ppm) in asparagus peas from the Dominican Republic
• clofentezine (0.056 mg/kg – ppm) in sweet peppers from Turkey
• dead insects (presence in 8% of sampled peanuts) in groundnuts in shell from Egypt
• fenthion (0.113 mg/kg – ppm) in peppers from Turkey
• lufenuron (0.089 mg/kg – ppm) and methomyl (0.2 mg/kg – ppm) in green beans from Kenya
• poor temperature control – rupture of the cold chain – of frozen freshwater shrimps (Macrobrachium rosenbergii) from Bangladesh
• propargite (0.06 mg/kg – ppm) in strawberries from Egypt
• Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in sesame seeds and betel leaves from India
• shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (stx2+, O105H8 /25g) in frozen boneless beef (Bos taurus) from Brazil
• too high content of sulphite (2178 mg/kg – ppm) in dried apricots from Turkey
• FCM: too high level of overall migration (237 mg/kg – ppm) from hand blender from China
• unauthorised substances carbofuran (0.07 mg/kg – ppm) and hexaconazole (0.22 mg/kg – ppm) in chili peppers from Vietnam