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

Acrylamide

in chips 2035,1 µg/kg (MRL; 750 µg/kg)

Croatia

Antibiotics,
vet. drug residues

Doxycycline above MRL in pork meat

Poland

Benzoic acid and benzoates

E210 +) in tomato broth 805 mg/kg and in in tomato paste 476 mg/kg from Turkey

Romania

Ergot alkaloids

in rye flour 1480 µg/kg (MRL: 500 µg/kg)

Belgium

Ethylene oxide (EO) /
2-chlorethanol (CE):

EO in Boswellia Serrata extract 2,4 mg/kg (MRL: 0,1 mg/kg)

India

EO in dried rosemary 5,4 mg/kg (!) (MRL:0,5 mg/kg) via the Netherlands

unknown origin

EO in ground black pepper 0,18 mg/kg (MRL: 0,1 mg/kg)

Vietnam

EO in food additive (E-468, interlaced sodium carboxymethyl cellulose) 88 -156 mg/kg (!!!) (MRL: 0,1 mg/kg)

India

EO in natural sesame > MRL: 0,05 mg/kg

India

Heavy and toxic metals

Lead in turmeric 2,56 mg/kg (MRL: 1,5 mg/kg)

Bangladesh

Histamine

in tuna

Spain

Histamine and tyramine in Gruyere raw milk cheese 485 mg/kg

France

Hydrogen cyanide

in apricot kernels 38 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 1 mg/kg)

Turkey

Mycotoxins

Aflatoxin B1 5 µg/kg and 1,9-2,9 µg/kg MRL: 2 µg/kg) in Basmati rice (2)

Netherlands (2)

Aflatoxin B1 2,3 – 8,3 µg/kg (MRL: 2 µg/kg) in rice flour (raw material)

Netherlands

Aflatoxin B1 24 µg/kg, 16,8 µg/kg, 34 µg/kg (MRL: 6 µg/kg) & total aflatoxin 27 µg/kg, 53 µg/kg (MRL:10 µg/kg) and another total aflatoxin 14,7 µg/kg (MRL:10 µg/kg) in dried figs (5)

Turkey (5)

total aflatoxin = 17µg/kg (MRL:10 µg/kg) in dried chopped organic figs

Turkey

Aflatoxin B1 30 µg/kg (!), 16 µg/kg and 7,4 µg/kg (MRL: 2 µg/kg) & total aflatoxin 33 µg/kg, 16 µg/kg and 8,6 µg/kg (MRL:4 µg/kg) in peanuts (3)

USA (3)

Aflatoxin B1 82,6 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 2 µg/kg) & total aflatoxin 98,1 µg/kg (!) (MRL:4 µg/kg) in peanuts

Egypt

Aflatoxin B1 4,3 µg/kg (MRL: 2 µg/kg )in peanut butter

India

Aflatoxin B1 132,3 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 5 µg/kg) & total aflatoxin 145,6 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 10 µg/kg) in hazelnuts

Georgia

Aflatoxin B1 18,9 µg/kg & total aflatoxin 24,2 µg/kg in almond powder (with almonds from Spain)

Italy

Ochratoxin A 11,7, 11,6, 71,9 and 472 (!!!) µg/kg  in dried figs (4)

Turkey (4)

Ochratoxin A in pistachios 194,9 µg/kg (!) (MRL:5 µg/kg)

Germany

Ochratoxin A in Basmati rice 3,5 -5,8 µg/kg (MRL: 3 µg/kg)

Netherlands

Ochratoxin A in bakery products (Focacce con olio extra-vergine di oliva 200 gr. - "Tre mulini") 37,3 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 3 µg/kg)

Spain

PAH

in matcha tea powder increased amount of benzo(a)pyrene and polycyclic hydrocarbons (no values)

China

Pesticides

Malathion 0,044 mg/kg (MRL: 0,02 mg/kg) in split broad beans

Egypt

Tricyclazol in roasted white rice flour

India

Tiametoxam 0,042 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) and tricyclazole in rice

India

Chlorpyrifos +) 0,025 mg/kg (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) in rice

Pakistan

Diafenthiuron +) 0,89 mg/kg (!!) (MRL:0,01 mg/kg) & Dinotefuran 0,13 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 0,01 mg/kg) and 4 other actives in tea

China

Chlorpyrifos +) and Lambda-cyhalothrin in tea 

China

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids

in dried oregano 5,1 mg/kg and 8,24 mg/kg (MRL: 1 mg/kg) (2)

Turkey (2)

in oregano 1,7 mg/kg and 30 mg/kg (!) (MRL: 1 mg/kg) (2)

Greece (2)

in oregano, cumin, and chamomile tea

Austria, Germany, Spain, Vietnam

in ground cumin 3,6 – 10,1 mg/kg (MRL: 0,4 mg/kg)

India

Sudan dyes and other unauthorized colorants +)

Sudan 4 in red palm oil 505 µg/kg

Ghana

Malachite green on fish 59,07 µg/kg (!) (MRL: 2 µg/kg)

Thailand

Leuco-malachite green in shrimps

Bangladesh

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) +) and Cannabidiol (CBD) +)

THC in herbal tea with hemp 11,8 mg/kg

Germany

CBD in (novel) food supplement 110 mg/kg and 228 mg/kg (2)

Austria (2)

Titanium oxide (E171) +)

in pineapple flavour Instant drink mix

Philippines

 

+) application is prohibited

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

 

Microbiological Hazards

Product

Origin

B. cereus

in ground ginger

Turkey

Cronobacter

in infant formula

Czech Republic

E.coli

in mussels (raw material from Spain)

Italy

E.coli EHEC/EPEC/STEC/VTEC

STEC in goat faisselle

France

STEC in raw milk cheese

Netherlands

VTEC in salami with wild boar

Italy

Listeria monocytogenes

in ready meal Cantonese rice

Spain

in Brie cheese

France

in Feta cheese cubes

Greece

in fried fish fillets

Poland

in fishcakes

Denmark

in sliced smoked marlin

Spain

in smoked salmon > 100 ufc/g

Denmark

in smoked Red Sockeye salmon

Netherlands

in smoked swordfish (2)

Spain

Salmonella

in sesame seeds (2)

Nigeria (2)

in organic tahini (sesame paste) with raw material from Uganda

Germany

in sesame paste

Syria

in tiger nut flakes

Germany

in octopus slices

China

in rosemary

Egypt

in thyme leaves (2)

Morocco (1), Egypt (1)

in black pepper (2)

Brazil (2)

in dry sausages

France

in confectionery

Turkey

Staphylococci

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

 

Vibrio spp.

Vibrio vulnificus in frozen raw shrimp (2)

 

Norovirus*

in Chamelea gallina mussels

Italy

in oysters

Spain

 

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