Food recalls in EU – Week 10/2015

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 milk ingredient (610 mg/kg – ppm) in chocolate from France, following an official control on the market. Notified by Spain;

– Biocontaminants: histamine (between 103 and 193 mg/kg – ppm) in sardinella’s pate from Senegal, following company’s own check. Notified by France, distributed also to Belgium;

– Food additives and flavorings: undeclared sulphite in Afghan dry plum from Germany, following an official control on the market. Notified by United Kingdom;

– Mycotoxins: aflatoxins (B1 = 46.2; Tot. = 61.2 µg/kg – ppb) in peanut powder from Taiwan, following an official control on the market. Notified by Germany, distributed also to Austria and Denmark;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Salmonella spp. (presence /50g) in moringa leaves powder from India, following a consumer complaint. Notified by Austria, distributed also to Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany and Italy;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in dry sausage from Spain, following company’s own check. Notified by France, distributed also to Andorra;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (stx +, eae + /25g) in blue cheese from France, following an official control on the market. Notified by Belgium, distributed also to Luxembourg.

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

– Insufficient labelling (missing instruction that the product requires cooking prior to consumption) of smoked pancetta from Italy, following a consumer complaint. Notified by Ireland, distributed also to United Kingdom;

– Food additives and flavorings: too high content of sulphite (2400 mg/kg – ppm) in golden raisins from Chile, packaged in Denmark, via the Netherlands, following an official control on the market. Notified by Denmark;

– Non pathogenic micro-organisms: hazelnut kernels, packaged in Sweden, infested with moulds, following company’s own check;

– Residues of veterinary medicinal products: unauthorised substance leucomalachite green (39 µg/kg – ppb) in frozen fish from Vietnam, following an official control on the market. Notified by United Kingdom;

– Unauthorised placing on the market (illegally harvested) of oysters from Ireland, following an official control on the market. Notified by Ireland, distributed also to Netherlands;

3. Alerts followed by a withdrawal from the market:

– Heavy metals: mercury (1.6 mg/kg – ppm) in frozen blue shark (Prionace glauca) from Spain, following an official control on the market. Notified by Italy;

– FEED. Composition: too high content of vitamin D (between 35500 and 301000 IU/kg) in kitten and puppy milk from France, following company’s own check. Notified by France, distributed also to Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden and United Kingdom;

– FCM: migration of primary aromatic amines (0.044; 0.021; 0.094 mg/kg – ppm) from nylon spoons from China, via Slovakia, following an official control on the market. Notified by Poland, distributed also to United Kingdom;

– Industrial contaminants: benzo(a)pyrene (2.97 µg/kg – ppb), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (sum of 4 PAH: 61.38 µg/kg – ppb), benzo(a)anthracene (7.43 µg/kg – ppb), chrysene (48.67 µg/kg – ppb) and benzo(b)fluoranthen (2.31 µg/kg – ppb) in smoked sprats in oil from Latvia, following an official control on the market. Notified by Poland;

– Mycotoxins: aflatoxins (B1 = 4.78; Tot. = 5.79 µg/kg – ppb) in halva with pistachio nuts from Turkey, following an official control on the market. Notified by Germany, distributed aslo to Netherlands;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Listeria monocytogenes (<10 CFU/100g) in tarama cod eggs from Romania, following an official control on the market. Notified by France.

4. Seizures:

None

5. Border rejections:

• absence of health certificate(s) and absence of Common Entry Document (CED) for hazelnut butter from Serbia
• aflatoxins (B1 = >24 µg/kg – ppb) in roasted pistachios from Iran and in pistachio nuts (B1 = 153.5 µg/kg – ppb) from Iran
• aflatoxins (B1 = 19.2 µg/kg – ppb) in pistachios from the United States
• aflatoxins (B1 = 2.2; Tot. = 2.5 / B1 = 5.1; Tot. = 5.9 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnut kernels from China
• aflatoxins (B1 = 2.6 µg/kg – ppb) in hazelnuts from Turkey
• aflatoxins (B1 = 7.2; Tot. = 7.4 µg/kg – ppb) in ground chilli powder from India
• biphenyl (0,657 mg/kg – ppm) in lemons from Turkey
• chlorpyrifos (0.06 mg/kg – ppm) and fenitrothion (0.04 mg/kg – ppm) in olives in brine from Egypt
• fenitrothion (0.84 mg/kg – ppm) in beans from Madagascar
• cinnamon (Cassia Vera) from Indonesia, via Hong Kong infested with moulds
• fraudulent health certificate(s) for rice sticks from China
• lead (0.47 mg/kg – ppm) in durum wheat from India
• FEED: Salmonella spp. (in 2 out of 13 samples /25g) in fish meal from Mauritania
• unauthorised placing on the market (Solanum nigrum, Sida cordifolia Operculina turpethum and Nepeta hindostana) of food supplements from India
• unauthorised substance diafenthiuron (0.050 mg/kg – ppm) in sweet peppers from Turkey
• unauthorised substance dichlorvos (0.03 mg/kg – ppm) in dried beans from Nigeria
• unauthorised substance oxadixyl (0.054 mg/kg – ppm) in flowering tea from China