Nieder-Olm / Bruckberg / Deblin (PL) . The international industry federation of the fruit juice industry SGF International e.V. (Sure - Global - Fair, former Protective Association for the Fruit Juice Industry, registered association) carries out certifications at fruit-processing companies, filling plants, dealers and brokers of fruit juices as well as transport companies and refrigerated warehouses in almost 60 countries.
The European Rapid Alert System (RASSF) issued two urgent bulletins on 22 July and 2 August with warnings on chloramphenicol contamination
in (xylanase) enzyme preparations from Belgium which were being used in feed additives.
The raw materials were found to contain up to 672 µg/kg of the banned antibiotic, for which there is zero tolerance in the EU. Levels of 9.7 and 14.9 mg/kg were measured in the additives. The source of contamination was given as enzyme preparations manufactured in Japan, but it has not yet been fully clarified how the contamination happened.
During its meeting on 16 July 2013, the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health (SCoFCAH) defined preliminary threshold values for perchlorate, which are valid until the end of the year. They are based on the data available to the EU Commission to date and replace the previous signal values. The EFSA will complete its own risk assessment by the end of the year, which could result in an amendment to the values now published.