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 analyse the RASFF-site conveniently by yourself using several filter options and limit the notification to those which are of direct interest to your business. Link: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/search

 

Chemical Hazards:

Product

Origin

3-MCP-D, glycidyl esters & fatty acid ethyl esters

Glycidyl esters 2561 µg/kg (MRL: 1000 µg/kg) and 3-monochlor-1,2-propanediol (3-MCPD) 4326 µg/kg (MRL: 2500 µg/kg) in biscuits

Iran

Antibiotics,
vet. drug residues

Aminoflubendazol 679 µg/kg (MRL: 400 µg/kg) in pork meat

Netherlands

Nitrofuran (metabolite) furazolidone (AOZ) >1 µg/kg in shrimps

India

Ergot alkaloids

Rye ergot (Claviceps purpurea) in barley flour 217 µg/kg (MRL: 150 µg/kg)

Netherlands

Ethylene oxide /
2-chlorethanol:

Ethylene oxide 5,68 mg/kg in seasoning paste and 0,633 mg/kg in seasoning sauce

India

2-Chloro-ethanol 0,024 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in rice noodles

Vietnam

2-Chloro-ethanol 37,4 (!) mg/kg  (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg)  in food supplement

India

Heavy and toxic metals

Cadmium 1,8 mg/kg (MRL: 1 mg/kg) in cooked, frozen mussels (Mytilus chilensis)

Chile

Cadmium 1.9 to 3.3 mg/kg (MRL: 1 mg/kg) in small octopus

Italy

Mercury 2,3 mg/kg (MRL: 1 mg/kg) in smoked sword fish and 1,88 mg/kg in frozen swordfish

Spain

Histamine

in tuna 4950 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 200 mg/kg)

Sri Lanka

in sardines 504 mg/kg -1599 mg/kg (MRL: 200 mg/kg)

Belgium or France

Hydrogen cyanid

in almonds 58,8 mg/kg

Italy

Iodine

in dried seaweed 365 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 20 mg/kg)

South Korea

in dried seaweed 7241 mg/kg (!!!) (MRL: 20 mg/kg)

China

Marine biotoxins

Lipophilic toxins (DSP) 209,2 mg/kg in almendras de mar (Glycymeris glycymeris)

Portugal

Diarrhoeic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) toxins - okadaic acid in cockles

Portugal

Mycotoxins

Aflatoxin B1 6,5 µg/kg (MRL: 2 µg/kg) & Aflatoxins total 6,9 µg/kg (MRL: 4 µg/kg) in husked-brown rice cargo or rice brun

Pakistan

Fumonisins 3151 µg/kg (!!!) in popcorn

Argentina notified by Poland

Ochratoxin A 730 µg/kg in astragalus extract powder (D: Tragant) used in food supplements from Croatia

Germany

Ochratoxin A 20 µg/kg (MRL: 5 µg/kg) in rice (2)

India (2)

Ochratoxin A (OTA) 5,3 µg/kg and 7,6 µg/kg in corn flour

Poland

Zearalenone 75,9 µg/kg & 117 µg/kg and aflatoxin B1 in organic rice crackers

Belgium

PAH

Benzo[a]pyrene 27,7 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 2 µg/kg) and total PAHs 166,1 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 12 µg/kg) in smoked pork collar

Latvia

Benzo[a]pyrene 22,3 µg/kg (MRL: 20 µg/kg) and total PAHs 102,8 µg/kg (MRL: 50 µg/kg) in ginger powder

China

Benzo[a]pyrene 4,1 µg/kg (MRL: 2 µg/kg) and total PAHs 24,6 µg/kg (MRL: 11 µg/kg) in smoked dwarf catfish (Ameiurus nebulosus) in vegetable oil

Ukraine

Pesticides

Anthraquinone +) 0,11 mg/kg (MRL: 0,02 mg/kg) in star anise

Vietnam

Chlorpyrifos +) 0,035 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in black-eyed beans

Madagascar

Chlorpyrifos +) 0,071 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) and Dimethoate +) 0,038 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in dried beans

Madagascar

Chlorpyrifos +) (no value) in black-eyed beans

Turkey

Chlorpyrifos+) 0,11 (!) mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in coriander

Cambodia

Chlorpyrifos +) 0,41 (!) mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) and Thiophanate-methyl 0,88 mg/kg (MRL: 0,1 mg/kg)  in yellow raisins

Iran

Dithiocarbamates 25,2 mg/kg (MRL: 5 mg/kg) in basil

Ethiopia

Fenamidone 1,5 mg/kg (!!) (MRL: 0,02 mg/kg) in basil

Israel

Acetamiprid 0,29 mg/kg (MRL: 0,05 mg/kg), Chlorpyrifos+) 0,23 (!) (0,01), Clothianidin 0,38 (0,05), Imidacloprid +) 0,13 (0,05), Thiamethoxam 0,22 (0,05) in cumin seeds

India

Haloxyfop +) 0,025 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) and undeclared sulphite 3.247 mg/kg in dried apricots

Iran

Acetamiprid 0,28 (!) mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg), Boscalid 5 (!!!) (0,01), Carbendazim +) 6,9 (!!!) (0,1), Chlorpyriphos +) 0,39 (!) (0,01), lambda-Cyhalothrin 0,16 (!) (0,01), Cypermethrin 0,18 (0,05), Difenoconazole 0,2 (0,05), Imidacloprid +) 0,052 (0,01), Lufenuron 0,26 (!) (0,01), Metalaxyl 0,023 (0,01), Propiconazole 0,41 (0,01), Pyraclostrobin 0,14 (0,02), Pyridalyl +) 1,4 (!!!) (0,01),Thiophanate-methyl 1,6 (!) (0,1)
in vine leaves in brine
Comment: unbelievable,
but luckily not (yet) placed on the market!

Egypt

Ethirimol +) 0,047 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) and hexythiazox 0,048 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in vine leaves in brine

Turkey

Pentachlorphenol 0,14 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in licorice root extract

India

Tricyclazole +) 0,37 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) and Carbendazim 0,31 (MRL: 0,01) in aromatic rice chinigura

Bangladesh

Tricyclazole +) 0,11 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 0,01) in Ruchi Puffed Rice

Bangladesh

Chlorpyrifos+) 0,095 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg), Tricyclazole +) 0,069 (MRL: 0,01) Thiamethoxam 0,041 (MRL: 0,01) in rice

India

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids

in dried oregano 5591 µg/kg & > 2500 µg/kg (MRL: 1000 µg/kg)

Turkey (2)

in ground cumin 4436 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 400 µg/kg)

Turkey

Sudan dyes and other unauthorized colorants

Malachite green & leucomalachite green
> 2 mg/kg (MRL: 2 mg/kg) in shrimps

Bangladesh

(Leuco)malachite green 205 µg/kg (!!!) (MRL: 2 µg/kg) in fish

Vietnam

Sudan I 65 mg/kg, Sudan III, Sudan IV & Red B 76 mg/kg (MRL: 0,1 mg/kg) in chilli crushed with seed

Unknown, notified by Germany

Sudan I 490 µg/kg & Sudan Orange G 170 µg/kg in ground sumac

Turkey

Sulfur dioxide / sulphite

in cooked fava (broad) beans 28 mg/kg (MRL: 10 mg/kg as allergen)

Lebanon

+) application is prohibited

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

 

Microbiological Hazards

Product

Origin

E.coli

Escherichia coli and Salmonella in live mussels

France

in cockles

France via Netherlands

EHEC/EPEC/STEC/VTEC

STEC/VTEC/EHEC/EPEC in sheep fillet

Australia, notified by Germany

EPEC in beef carpaccio

Czech Republic

Listeria monocytogenes

in filled, spun-curd cheese (burrata)

Italy

in sliced salami Napoli

Italy

in pancakes chocolat

France

in herring filet

France

in smoked salmon (from Norway) (2)

Poland (2)

in hot smoked mackerel

Netherlands

in chilled smoked bacon (in 3 out of 5 samples)

Poland

Salmonella

in sesame seeds (11)

Nigeria (10),
Ethiopia (1)

in halva

Turkey

in neutral gelatine

Germany

in chorizo

Spain

Salmonella thyphimurium in mussels

Netherlands

Salmonella Agmeni in canned Mungo Bean Sprouts

France

Salmonella C1 in sausage

Poland

Staphylococci

Staphylococcal enterotoxin (in 1 out of 5 samples /25g) in mozzarella

Spain

Vibrio spp.

Vibrio vulnificus in frozen raw shrimp (2)

Ecuador (1),
Venezuela (1)

Norovirus*

in oysters

France

 

YOUR PLUS: Our laboratory AGROLAB Dr. Blasy-Dr. Busse is allowed to work with pathogenic food viruses and offers also analysis for Norovirus and Hepatitis A virus. 

 

Author: Dr. Frank Mörsberger