Food News

In this section we repeated alert notices from the RASFF system of the European commission issued in the previous month, which we thought to be noteworthy and of interest to our clients. 

In the meantime you have recognized, that the monthly listing became longer and longer. A repetition in AGROLAB RADAR binds meanwhile many hours, so we decided to stop excerpting this information. In addition, the alerts did not differ very much from month to month. The typical threats were also deriving from the known countries. Nuts, raisins and dried fruit with mycotoxin contamination from South of Europe and Middle East countries & USA, salmonella in chicken breast from South America, Poland, and numerous spices e.g. black pepper from Brazil and seeds with salmonella and always often a too high sulfite content in dried fruit from Turkey etc.

You can analyze the RASFF-site conveniently by yourself using several filter options and limit the notification to those, which are of direct interest to your business.

We will screen the RASFF listing week by week also in future selecting challenging findings in our opinion. 

• 3-Amino-2-oxazolidinone (AOZ): in frog legs from Vietnam;
• 3-MCPD- and glycidyl esters: Glycidyl ester in organic refined coconut oil from the Netherlands;
• Ethylene oxide/2-Chlorethanol: in ice cream in France made from locust bean gum from Turkey and in ice creams containing guar gum from France; in frozen broccoli potato gratin contaminated with ethylene oxide from France; in bird's tongue chilli imported from Spain; in Tzatziki from France; in food supplement based on Dunaliella Alga (Dunaliella salina) from India; 2-Chlorethanol in instant noodle ready meal from Vietnam, via the Netherlands; in sweetened condensed oat milk from Thailand; in an ingredient used in tomato meatballs from France; 2-Chloroethanol in food supplements from Germany; in wheat grass powder from Germany; in plant extract from India (2); in food supplements from France with raw materials from India;
• Heavy and toxic metals: Cadmium (1,96 mg/kg /(1 mg/kg))* in cooked frozen shelled mussels from Chile, in  frozen cuttlefish (2,1 mg/kg) from Vietnam distributed in Italy and in chilled smoked herring (0.151 mg/kg)  from Greece, packaged in Italy; lead in nettle leaf powder (36,2 mg/kg / (3 mg/kg))* from Albania; Unauthorised nickel and cobalt in food supplement from Switzerland;
• Histamine: in chilled mackerel (in 9 samples 290 - 980 mg/kg (200 mg/kg)) from the Netherlands
• Iodine: Increased iodine content (697,45 mg/kg & 168,7 mg/kg) in dried seaweed from China, via Germany;
• Listeria monocytogenes: in raw milk cheese from Belgium; in cheese from Spain via the Netherlands;
• MOSH/MOAH: in hazelnut cocoa spread (1,5 mg/kg /(0,5 mg/kg))* from Italy;
• Mycotoxins: Aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in organic mace powder from Sri Lanka; Ochratoxin A in spray dried instant coffee from Vietnam; Aflatoxines B1 in assorted spices mix from Pakistan; Aflatoxins (and Bacillus cereus) in organic sesame seeds from Togo; Aflatoxins in millet flour from Senegal; Aflatoxin in ground ginger from India;
• PAH: in sausage (sum 76,5 µg/kg /(12µg/kg), BaP 16,4 µg/kg/(2µg/kg))* from Portugal distributed in Switzerland; Anthraquinone in mate tea from Argentina, via the Netherlands;
• Pesticides: unauthorized Chlorpyrifos in raisins from Uzbekistan; Chlorpyrifos-methyl (0,026 mg/kg, 0,011 mg/kg) in wheat products (gluten) from Belgium, with raw material from France;
• Salmonella: in numerous cases in black pepper from Brazil; in pumpkin seeds from China; in quinoa salad from Belgium;
• VTEC/STEC: Verotoxin-producing E.coli in soft cheese from France; VTEC/STEC in raw milk cheese from France; in chilled beef from Belgium; in raw milk cheese from Italy:
• Sudan dyes: Sudan IV in palm oil from Ghana;
• THC / CBD: Too high THC content in organic hemp seeds from the Netherlands;
• Verotoxin-producing E.coli: in soft cheese from France;
  
  

*(Reported value / (MRL))

Link: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/