Food recalls in EU – Week 39/2015

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 and wheat in cheese and onion flavoured potato chips from Belgium, following company’s own check. Notified by Netherlands;
• Composition: Garcinia cambogia Desr (1200 mg/item) in food supplement from Sweden, following an official control on the market. Notified by Denmark, distributed also to Norway;
• Food additives and flavourings: undeclared phenylalanine (27 mg/l) in beer with soft drink from Germany, following an official control on the market. Notified by Germany, distributed also to Italy and Spain.

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

None.

3. Alerts followed by a withdrawal from the market:

• FCM (Food Contact Materials): migration of primary aromatic amines (31.1; 30.7; 28.4 µg/l) from natural rubber latex teats from Italy, following an official control on the market. Notified by Germany.

4. Seizures:

None.

5. Border rejections:

• absence of health certificate(s) for groundnuts from India
• aflatoxins (B1 = 10.36; Tot. = 11.43 / B1 = 10.36; Tot. = 11.43 µg/kg – ppb) in groundnuts from China
• aflatoxins (B1 = 180; Tot. = 200 µg/kg – ppb) in nutmeg from Indonesia
• aflatoxins (B1 = 32.27; Tot. = 217.24 µg/kg – ppb) in hazelnuts from Turkey
• chilled paprika chopped in pieces, dried paprika and paprika stems from China infested with moulds
• chlorpyrifos (3.1 mg/kg – ppm) and dicofol (0.16 mg/kg – ppm) in peppers in brine from Morocco
• excessive humidity of black pepper from Vietnam infested with moulds
• lead (0.141 mg/kg – ppm) in sheathed woodtuft (Pholiota mutabilis) from China
• FCM: migration of chromium (0.4 mg/kg – ppm) from steel knives for cheese from China and steel knives from Hong Kong
• propamocarb (0.045; 0.087 mg/kg – ppm) and unauthorised substance carbendazim (0.031 mg/kg – ppm) in quinoa and chia seeds from Peru
• Salmonella (presence /25g) in frozen salted chicken breast from Thailand
• Salmonella (presence /25g) in and hulled sesame seeds from India
• Salmonella Derby (presence /25g) and Salmonella Lexington (presence /25g) in rapeseed cake from Belarus
• thawed frozen cuttlefish (Sepia aculeata) from India
• too high content of sulphite (175; 245 mg/kg – ppm) and unauthorised use of colour E 102 – tartrazine (presence) in pickled sour mustard from Thailand
• unauthorised novel food ingredient Casearia sylvestris and novel food ingredient Cuphea (Cuphea carthaginensis) in herbal tea from Brazil
• unauthorised substance dithiocarbamates (0.14 mg/kg – ppm) in vine leaves in brine from Turkey
• unauthorised substances profenofos (0.022 mg/kg – ppm) and chlorfenapyr (0.04 mg/kg – ppm) in red chilli from Laos, via Vietnam