Food News

Alert notices from RASFF concerning food (except for fruit & vegetables - see special section)

Alarm

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. 

 

 

We will refrain from repeating the numerous reports on all mycotoxin and salmonella limit violations, but show only a selection to pinpoint the risks. However, we like to put your attention to the fact that in numerous cases missing allergen information was categorized as serious and caused border rejections too.

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.

 

Chemical Hazards:

Product

Origin

3-MCPD & glycidyl esters

glycidyl fatty acid esters in infant milk formula

Austria

3-MCPD 7 mg/kg (MRL: 1,5 mg/kg) and glycidyl esters 1,3 mg/kg (MRL: 1 mg/kg) in rice oil

Spain

glycidyl esters 1,85 mg/kg (MRL: 1 mg/kg) in cookies

Saudi Arabia, via NL

Ergot alkaloids

in rye flour 1.680 µg/kg (MRL:500 µg/kg)

France

Ethylene oxide /
2-chlorethanol:

2-Chloroethanol 0,513 mg/kg in spice mixture

India

Ethylene oxide in vanilla ice cream

France (widely distributed)

Ethylene oxide 411 mg/kg (MRL: 0,02 mg/kg !!!) in fruit powder (Amla Powder)

India

Ethylene oxide in instant noodles (2)

Vietnam

Ethylene oxide in condiment sauce

India

Heavy and toxic metals

Lead 2,77 mg/kg (MRL: 1,5 mg/kg) in turmeric

Madagascar

Mercury 3,9 mg/kg (MRL: 0,5 mg/kg) in frozen shark

Spain

Cadmium 0,114 mg/kg (MRL: 0,1 mg/kg) in organic pea protein (80%)

China

Cadmium 2,3 mg/kgt (MRL: 1 mg(kg) in food supplement (Manganese Bisglycinate 20%)

China

Histamine

in thawed tuna loins and in anchovis 696 mg/kg (MRL: 200 mg/kg)

Spain

in mackerel 646 mg/kg (MRL: 200 mg/kg)

Netherlands

Mycotoxins

Afllatoxin B1 14 µg/kg (MRL 5 µg/kg) in nutmeg

Indonesia

Aflatoxin B1 9,3 µg/kg (MRL 5 µg/kg) and Ochratoxin 94,8 mg/kg (MRL:15 µg/kg) in ground nutmeg

United Kingdom

Aflatoxins total 13,2 µg/kg (MRL:4 µg/kg) in ground tonka beans

Brazil

Ochratoxin A 12,6 µg/kg (MRL: 3 µg/kg) in wheat flour

Belgium (raw material from France)

Ochratoxin A 4,5 µg/kg (MRL: 3 µg/kg) in supreme basmati rice

India

Ochratoxin A 9,2 µg/kg and 6,4 µg/kg (MRL: 3 µg/kg) in rice

India

Pesticides

Anthraqinone +) 0,052 mg/kg (MRL:0,02 mg/kg) in Jasmine tea

Indonesia via NL

Anthraqinone 0,19 mg/kg (MRL:0,02 mg/kg) in dried cardamom

Vietnam via CZ

Dimethomorph 10 mg/kg (MRL: 0,5 mg/kg), Propamocarb 1,4 mg/kg (MRL: 0,5 mg/kg), Tebuconazole 3,4 mg/kg (MRL: 1,5 mg/kg) and unauthorised substances Procymidone +) (7,2 mg/kg (MRL: 0,5 mg/kg !), Propiconazole +) (1,2 mg/kg (MRL: 0,5 mg/kg) in ginseng extract

China

Hexaconazole +) 0,024 mg/kg (MRL:0,01 mg/kg) and tricyclazole +) 0,029 mg/kg and 0,034 µg/kg (MRL:0,01 mg/kg) in rice

Vietnam

Tricyclazole +) 0,039 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in rice

India

Fenitrothion 0,36 mg/kg (MRL: 0,05 mg/kg), Carbaryl 38 mg/kg !!! (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg)+) and Isoprocarb +) 0,065 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in rice

Madagascar

Iprodion 0,25 mg/kg ! (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in ready-to-eat meal

South Korea

Chlorpyrifos +) 0,024 mg/kg (MRL:0,01 mg/kg) and lambda-cyhalothrin 0,22 mg/kg ! (MRL: 0,01) in apple chips

Uzbekistan

Pinnatoxins

Pinnatoxins 25,1 µg/kg in fresh mussels

Netherlands

Sudan dyes and other forbidden dyes

Sudan IV (45 mg/kg) in spice preparation

Turkey

Sudan I and IV in couscous spices mix

Lebanon, via NL

Malachite green 0,83 ng/g and leukomalachite green 35 ng/g in pangasius filet

Vietnam

Tropane alkaloids

in organic tortilla chips

Belgium

Veterinary drug residues

Trimethoprim > 250 µg/kg & 100 µg/kg (MRL: 50 µg/kg) +), Sulfamethoxazole and Oxytetracycline sow carcasses, meat and organs

Netherlands

 

Microbiological Hazards

Product

Origin

Bacillus cereus

 

 

Clostridium botulinum

in trout fillet (-packing)

Turkey

E.coli

in Laguiole cheese product

France

E.coli, Shigatoxin-producing (STEC)

9.200 MPN/100g (MRL:700 MPN/100g) in shell (mollusc)

France

In meat

Belgium

Listeria spp. or
Listeria monocytogenes

2.600 cfu/g in dried Chorizo sausage

France

820 cfu/g (MRL: 100 cfu/g) in smoked salmon

Morocco

in octopus marinade

France

in Burrata (from buffalo milk)

France

in vegan cheese substitute

France

in Mozzarella cheese

Luxembourg

Salmonella

in tahini (halva) & in sesame paste (2)

Syria

in tahini sesame paste

Ethiopia

in sesame seeds (2)

Nigeria & india

in curry powder

India

in black pepper

Brazil

in shrimps

Netherlands

in pistachio kernels

Iran

Vibrio cholerae

in frozen shrimps

Ecuador

 

Other Hazards (Allergens)

Origin

Undeclared peanut in soya lecithine (2)

India

Lead 3,6 mg/kg (MRL 3 mg/kg) in diatomaceous earth

Czech Republic, raw material from Poland

 

+) application is prohibited

MRL exceeded: ! ≥10 times, !! ≥50 times, !!! ≥ 100 times

 

 

 

 

 

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

 

 

 

Author: Dr. Frank Mörsberger