Food recalls in EU – Week 21/2015

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 soya (presence) and wheat (presence) in and incorrect labelling on roasted and salted almonds from Greece, following company’s own check. Notified by Denmark, distributed also to Faeroe Islands;

– Allergens: undeclared gluten in frozen grilled vegetables in marinade from Belgium, following a consumer complaint. Notified by Finland, distributed also to Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania;

– FCM (Food Contact Materials). Defective packaging: risk of breakage of bottles containing wine from Italy, following an official control on the market. Notified by United Kingdom, distributed also to Bermuda;

– FCM (Food Contact Materials). Defective packaging: risk of breakage of bottles containing panaché from France, following company’s own check. Notified from Netherlands;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Listeria monocytogenes (110 CFU/g) in raw cow’s milk cheese from France, following company’s own check. Notified by France, distributed also to Belgium, Germany, Spain and Sweden;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Listeria monocytogenes (1300 CFU/g) in cow’s milk cheese from France, following an official control on the market. Notified by France, distributed also to Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Netherlands, Poland and United Kingdom.

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

– Allergens: traces of egg in soup from Poland, following company’s own check. Notified by Ireland, distributed also to United Kingdom;

– Non-pathogenic micro-organisms: hazelnut kernels from Sweden infested with moulds, following company’s own check. Notified by Denmark;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Salmonella Saint Paul in chilled turkey breast fillet from Italy, following an official control on the market. Notified by Denmark.

3. Alerts followed by a withdrawal from the market:

– Allergens: undeclared soya (5.8 mg/kg – ppm) in liver pate from Poland, following an official control on the market. Notified by Slovakia;

– FCM (Food Contact Materials). Industrial contaminants: migration of melamine (3.1 mg/kg – ppm) from melamine dinner plate from unknown origin, via the Netherlands, following an official control on the market. Notified by Belgium;

– Industrial contaminants: 2,4-dinitrophenol (DNP) (11 mg/kg – ppm) in food supplement from the United States, via the Netherlands, following an official control on the market. Notified by United Kingdom;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Campylobacter (presence/25g) in chicken liver parfait from Ireland, following a food poisoning. Notified by United Kingdom;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Listeria monocytogenes (<10 CFU/g) in pasteurized cheese from Italy, following company’s own check. Notified by France;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Salmonella Munchen (presence/25g) in smoked paprika powder from Spain, following an official control on the market. Notified by United Kingdom, distributed also to France, Ireland and United Arab Emirates;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: Salmonella typhimurium (presence/25g) in frozen chicken livers and skins from Belgium, following an official control on the market. Notified by Belgium, distributed also to Germany and Netherlands;

– Pathogenic micro-organisms: shigatoxin-producing Escherichia coli (O26 – VTEC eaeA and VTEC vtx1./25g) in smoked sausage from Latvia, following an official control on the market. Notified by Latvia, distributed also to Estonia.

4. Seizures:

– In Switzerland, following a border control, we had a seizure of basil from Laos for pesticide residues: carbosulfan (0.11 mg/kg – ppm) and unauthorised substance carbofuran (1.4 mg/kg – ppm) and a seizure of kale from Vietnam for composition and pesticide residues: too high content of nitrate (4700 mg/kg – ppm) and unauthorised substances carbendazim (1.12 mg/kg – ppm), chlorfenapyr (0.20 mg/kg – ppm) and chlorfluazuron (0.06 mg/kg – ppm).

5. Border rejections:

• absence of health certificate(s) and of certified analytical report for peanut candies from India;
• aflatoxins (B1 = 10.3; Tot. = 11.4 / B1 = 9.9; Tot. = 11 µg/kg – ppb) in whole and ground egusi seeds from Ghana
• aflatoxins (B1 = 17.1; Tot. = 21.5 µg/kg – ppb) in peanuts with shell from China
• aflatoxins (B1 = 30; Tot. = 35 / B1 = 55; Tot. = 64 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnut kernels from India
• aflatoxins (B1: 20, Sum 20 µg/kg – ppb) in pistachios from the United States
• aflatoxins (Tot. = 17.5 µg/kg – ppb) in hazelnut kernels from Turkey
• aflatoxins (Tot. = 33.8 µg/kg – ppb) in raw pistachios from the United States
• attempt to illegally import dried beans and dried meat and fish products from Nigeria
• biphenyl (3.44 mg/kg – ppm) in lemons from Turkey
• chlorpyrifos (0.19 mg/kg – ppm) and diazinon (0.03 mg/kg – ppm) in black olives in brine from Egypt and (0.2 mg/100ml and 0.06 mg/kg – ppm) in whole natural black olives from Eritrea, via Egypt
• clofentezine (0.17 mg/kg – ppm) in sweet peppers (Capsicum annuum) from Turkey
• formetanate (0.32 mg/kg – ppm) in peppers from Turkey
• improper health certificate(s) for peanuts from Ghana
• malathion (0.047 mg/kg – ppm) in myrica rubra from China
• FCM (Food Contact Materials): migration of manganese (2.1 mg/kg – ppm) from stainless steel ladle from India
• FCM (Food Contact Materials): acrylic plates from India unfit for use as food contact material
• poor temperature control (>-7 °C) of fresh frozen shrimps (Penaeus vannamei ) from Venezuela and of chilled tuna (Thunnus albacares) from India
• prohibited substance nitrofuran (metabolite) nitrofurazone (SEM) (3.5 µg/kg – ppb) in frozen raw shrimps from India
• Salmonella spp. (presence /25g) in frozen turkey meat preparations and in frozen spiced turkey breasts from Brazil
• Salmonella spp. (present /25g) in frozen salted chicken breasts from Thailand