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 mycotoxin and salmonella limit violations here. It is always the same countries of origin and matrices that are affected. However, we like to put your attention to the act 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.

We will screen the RASFF listing week by week also in future selecting challenging findings in our opinion.

 

Chemical Hazards:

Product

Origin

Cyanide

in sweet apricot kernels 30 mg/kg (MRL 20)

Afghanistan

Ergotalkaloids

in rye flour 766 µg/kg (MRL 500)

Belgium

Ethylene oxide /
2-chlorethanol:

in sesame seeds 0,81 mg/kg (MRL 0,02)

Netherlands

in bamboo extract used to manufacture food supplements 659 mg/kg

Spain

in gluten

Netherlands

in wheat gluten 0,21 mg/kg (MRL 0,02)

France

in organic gluten-free crispy bread with quinoa

Czech Republic

in food supplement

France

in food supplement (8x)

India

in organic turmeric

Germany

in dried kaffir leaves powder

Thailand

in barley grass powder

China

in spice blends and spices (2x)

India

in bacopa (Sutera cordata)

India

in soup powder in Asian noodles (2x)

Vietnam

Heavy and toxic metals

Too high content of manganese and zinc in food supplement (Collagen)

Japan

Mercury 1,61 mg/kg (MRL 1) in sword fish

Spain

Histamine

in tuna filet (sashimi)

Netherlands

In frozen sardines 1695 mg/kg

Portugal

Iodine

too high content in dried seaweed

South Korea

Mycotoxins

Aflatoxins in rice (4x) and brown basmati rice (3x) up to 47 µg/kg (MRL 4)

Pakistan

Aflatoxins 11,3 µg/kg (MRL 4) in spelt flour

Belgium

Aflatoxins in nutmegs 23,5 µg/kg (MRL 5)

Indonesia

Sum T-2 HT-2 toxins: 26,6 µg/kg (MRL 15) in organic corn snack with cheese and onion for babies

Netherlands

Nitrofuran

Prohibited substance nitrofuran (metabolite) nitrofurazone (SEM) in farmed crab

Bangladesh

PAH

in luteine powder 78,3 µg/kg ( MRL 50)

China

Pesticides

Unauthorised chlorpyrifos 0,43 mg/kg in Fenugreek leaves

India

and in frozen parsley 0,18 mg/kg 

Turkey

and in black cumin oil 0,025 mg/kg (MRL 0,01)

Germany

Unauthorised Permethrin 0,22 mg/kg (MRL 0,05), Chlorfenapyr 0,23 mg/kg (MRL 0,01) & Chlorpyrifos 0,14 mg/kg (MRL 0,01 (and cadmium) in frozen red chili

Vietnam

Buprofezin 3,8 mg/kg (MRL 0,02) and chlorpyrifosethyl 2,6 mg/kg (MRL 0,01) in basil

Thailand

Unauthorised substance tricyclazole 0,067 mg/kg (MRL 0,01) and thiametoxam 0,095 mg/kg (MRL 0,01) in rice

India

Unauthorised substance tricyclazole 0,068 mg/kg (MRL 0,01)

Bangladesh

Pyrrolizidine alkaloids

in cumin 1505.4 µg/kg (MRL 400) (2x)

Turkey

Sudan dyes and other unauthorized colorants

Sudan II (180 µg/kg), Sudan III (11 µg/kg) and Sudan Red G (880 µg/kg) in sweet pepper powder

Russia

Sudan III in palm oil 1,5 mg/kg

Guinea

Malachite green and leucomalachite green 14.6 µg/kg (MRL 2) in frozen red tilapia

Vietnam

Tropanalkaloids

atropine and scopolamine in soybean meal 56 µg/kg

Austria

 

Microbiological Hazards

Product

Origin

Listeria monocytogenes

in spread spicy tuna

Belgium

in vegan organic cheese alternative

France

in goat cheese balls with fig heart and in raw goat milk cheese and chilled raw milk cheese

France

in gorgonzola piccante cheese

Italy

in organic Emmental cheese

Germany

in sliced ham

Italy

in pâté

Belgium

Salmonella

in chocolate products distributed in EU

Israel

in chocolate products distributed in EU (note: the Ferrero case)

Belgium

in organic coriander

unknown, via Italy

in ground cumin

Netherlands

in black pepper (13x)

Brazil

in organic Moringa powder

Sri Lanka

in chia seeds

Netherlands

in tomato-mozzarella wraps

Netherlands, via Germany

in Mozarella cheese

Netherlands & Switzerland

in spice and spice mix

Netherlands

VTEC/STEC

in sheep meet

Italy

in beef tartare

Poland

in sheep's cheese

Greece

in pizza dough (STEC O145)

Netherlands

Norovirus*

in vongole veraci (Ruditapes philippinarum)

Italy

 

Other Hazards

Origin

Wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt and milk is not mentioned in the ingredient list of a biscuit (missing allergen information)

Belgium

High content of vitamin B6 5228 mg/kg in food supplements

Germany

Risk of mix-up as foodstuff due to lack of labelling, maximum level of erucic acid exceeded in mustard oil from Bangladesh, via Italy

Bangladesh, via Italy

 

 

 

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