Food News

Alert notices from RASFF concerning food (except 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 2.032 µg/kg (750 µg/kg) in potato chips Latvia
Biogenic amines Exceeded histamine content 362,8 mg/kg until 1243 mg/kg (200 mg/kg)  in tuna steaks Vietnam
Histamine 770 mg/kg (400 mg/kg) in anchovy fillets in oil  Peru 
Ethylene oxide (EO) / 2-chlorethanol (2-CE) +) EO 0,65 mg/kg (0,1 mg/kg)  in meal replacement Thailand
EO 0,36 mg/kg (0,1 mg/kg) in peppers (spice) Pakistan
EO 3,4 mg/kg  (0,1 mg/kg) in Cayenne pepper Turkey
Heavy and toxic metals Cadmium 0,302 mg/kg  in Arborio rice  Italy
Cadmium 1,48 mg/kg & 1,27 mg/kg (0,8 mg/kg)  in dark chocolate (85% cocoa) Ecuador
Lead 1,4 mg/kg (0,6 mg/kg) in chili flakes United Kingdom
Mercury 1,5 mg/kg (0,5 mg/kg) in frozen monkfish Morocco, notified by Spain
Mercury 1,6 mg/kg (0,5 mg/kg) in frozen swordfish Portugal
Mercury 1,27; 1,25; 0,68 mg/kg (0,5 mg/kg) in frozen fish (Pargo, San Pedro, Rape) Morocco, notified by Spain
Cadmium 0,33 mg/kg (0,15 mg/kg)  in fermented rice powder China, via Germany
Hydrocyanic acid (prussic acid), cyanides  in golden flax seed France
in almonds (raw material/ingredient)  Netherlands
Mycotoxins Aflatoxin B1 80,06 & 75,88  µg/kg (!) (2 µg/kg), aflatoxins (total)  93,35 &  86,99 µg/kg (!) (4 µg/kg)  in peanuts China, notified by Poland
Aflatoxin B1 6,0 µg/kg  (2 µg/kg), Aflatoxin B2 1,1 µg/kg;  aflatoxins (total) 7,2 µg/kg (4 µg/kg)  in peanuts Egypt
Aflatoxin B1 261,1 & 218,7 µg/kg (!) (8 µg/kg) Aflatoxins (total) 295 & 238,2 µg/kg (!) (10 µg/kg) in pistacchios Lebanon
Aflatoxin B1 123,2 µg/kg (!) (8 µg/kg) Aflatoxins (total) 145,8 µg/kg (!) (10 µg/kg) in shelled pistacchios Iran (2)
Aflatoxin B1 40 µg/kg (5 µg/kg); Aflatoxins (total) 42 µg/kg (10 µg/kg) in nutmeg Indonesia
Aflatoxin B1 22.6 µg/kg (6 µg/kg); Aflatoxins (total) 46,9 µg/kg  (10 µg/kg) in dried figs Turkey
Aflatoxin B1 3,6 µg/kg (2 µg/kg) in rice India
Aflatoxin B1 13,3 µg/kg (5 µg/kg) in brown Basmati rice Pakistan
Aflatoxin B1 15 µg/kg (2 µg/kg); Aflatoxins (total) 17 µg/kg (4 µg/kg) in ground nuts India
Aflatoxin B1 0,21 µg/kg (0,1 µg/kg) in rice crackers for infants and young children Belgium
Fumonisins in corn flour-based snack products with raw material from France Spain
Zearalenone 3000 µg/kg  in Mixed Tocopherols (from China) Belgium
Nitrofurans Furazolidone (AOZ)  7,8 µg/kg (!!) (0,15 µg/kg) in shrimps India
Furazolidone (AOZ)  1,3 µg/kg (0,15 µg/kg) in shrimps Vietnam
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) Benzo[a]pyrene 7,2 µg/kg; PAH (sum) 27 µg/kg  in roasted wheat (freekeh) Turkey
Benzo[a]pyrene 4,1 µg/kg; PAH (sum) 19 µg/kg  in sunflower oil North Macedonia
Pesticides Linuron 0,12 mg/kg (0,05 mg/kg)  in ground cumin Syria via Lebanon
Anthraquinone 0,16 mg/kg (0,01 mg/kg) in Jasmine tea Indonesia
Acetamiprid 0,94 mg/kg (0,05 mg/kg), Chlorpyrifos+) 0,28 mg/kg (!)  (0,01 mg/kg) Imidacloprid 0,12 mg/kg (0,05 mg/kg), Thiophanate methyl  0,22 mg/kg (0,1 mg/kg) in fenugreek leaves +) (Trigonella foenum graecum) India
Chlorpyrifos +)  0,012 mg/kg (0,004 mg/kg) and fluopyram 0,062 mg/kg (0,004 mg/kg)  in soybean oil (Olej sojowy surowy (nierafinowany)) Ukraine, notified by Poland
Chlorpyrifos +) 0,0427 & 0,12 mg/kg (!) (0,01 mg/kg ) in fennel seeds Spain
Chlorpyrifos +) 1,7 mg/kg (!!!) (0,01 mg/kg ) in green raisins Afghanistan
Chlorpyrifos +) 1,1 mg/kg (!!!) (0,01 mg/kg ) in ginger powder Iran   
Chlorpyrifos +) 0,046 mg/kg (0,01 mg/kg) in corn wavers with sea salt Poland
Pyrrolizidine alkaloids 1553,4 µg/kg (400 µg/kg)  in cumin Turkey
Sudan dyes+) and other unauthorized colorants+) Orange II 23 µg/kg in curry powder India
Sudan 1 (>2000 µg/kg - ppb);  Sudan 3 (26 µg/kg - ppb) in sweet and sour sauce Russia
Unauthorized colouring agents yellow orange S (E 110) and cochineal red A (E 124)  and  aflatoxins in roasted red melon seeds Syria via Netherlands, notified by Germany
Unauthorised use of colour E 171 - titanium dioxide in food supplement  Sweden
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) +) and Cannabidiol (CBD) +) Unauthorised novel food ingredient cannabidiol (CBD) in CBD capsules offered online for sale Netherlands
THC and unauthorized novel food ingredient cannabidiol (CBD) in CBD oil  Switzerland
198,3 mg/kg Tetrahydrocannabinol (delta-9-THC) in hemp flower tea Germany, notified by Austria
Unauthorised novel ingredient Hexahydrocannabinol (HHC) in fruit jelly Austria
Unapproved Novel Food Ingredient CBD in Organic Hemp Flavour Oil Austria
CBD 6.240 µg/kg (!!!)  in food supplement distributed via Spain and the Netherlands unknown, notified by Austria
Tropane alkaloids Atropin 100,1 µg/kg (!) & 130,7 µg/kg  (!) (5 µg/kg)  and Scopolamine up to 30,5 µg/kg & 41,8 µg/kg (5 µg/kg) in breads made from teff flour  Spain
Scopolamine 21 µg/kg (5 µg/kg) in organic teff flour with raw material from Bulgaria Germany
Atropin up to 1234,6 µg/kg (!!!) and Scopolamine up to 463,3 µg/kg (!!) in teff flour  Spain

 

  

+) application is prohibited

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

 

Microbiological Hazards Product Origin
Campylobacter in bezos fuet Spain
E.coli >230 MPN  in clams  Italy
E.coli EHEC/EPEC/STEC/VTEC Shigatoxine-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in frozen veal meat Netherlands
Shigatoxine-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) in  goat`s cheese France, widely distributed in Europe
E. Coli STEC O26:H11 highly pathogenic in fermented raw milk France
Shiga-toxin producing E. coli, serotype O104 (STEC) and Listeria monocytogenes  in frozen dry-aged minced beef  Poland
Listeria monocytogenes in Nem chua (a fermented pork dish from Vietnamese cuisine) (110 cfu/g) France
in natamycin China
in pasteurized milk sheep's cheese France
in organic vegetarian replacement product for animal products Germany
Salmonella in tiger nut flour  Burkina Faso notified by Germany
Salmonella and E.coli in Japonica clams (Venerupis philippinarum) Portugal   
in spread with ham Belgium
in whole salmon  Norway
in Tahini paste (2) Egypt (2)
in sesame seeds Uganda
in halva Syria
Norovirus in oysters (Crassostrea gigas) France
Norovirus genogroup I and II  in clams (3) Italy (3)
Norovirus genogroup I and II in Japanese clams (2) Portugal (2)
Vibrio cholerae in shrimps (Pennaeus vannamei) & in Blue Moon Frozen Shrimp  Ecuador (2)

  

Other Hazards  Origin
Hygiene failure and sensory check failure of  horse meat (2) Netherlands (2)
Mitigation of Cyclo-di-BADGE (2962 µg/kg) in sprats in oil Latvia, notified by Germany
Nematodes (Anisakis spp.) in fresh fish (Merluccius spp.) Morocco, notified by Spain
Nematodes (larvae of Anisakis spp.) in refrigerated  hake France, notified by Spain
Unauthorised novel food (Mitragyna speciosa) on Webshop (7 !)  Netherlands (7 !)

 

Author: Dr. Frank Mörsberger