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In this article, we repeat important alerts from the European Commission's RASFF system from the past month.
We structured the table in an even clearer manner. We will sort the notifications by product group and use the headings in the RASFF system as a guide, as well as the countries of origin in the second column. You know your raw materials and products and their origins best. This will enable you to identify more quickly whether there are any notifications in the rapid alert system that are relevant to you. We have classified notifications that have been marked as ‘serious’ in the system and have been confirmed as relevant.
In future, we will refrain from repeating the results and comparing the maximum permissible levels of individual contaminants. In addition, we will largely refrain from issuing warnings about microbiological contamination for the product groups meat/meat products, poultry/poultry products, fish and seafood, and milk/milk products.
For ten years, these have been recurring reports on known pathogenic germs every month. In addition, these mostly perishable foods have usually not entered the market or are no longer available at the time of our report.
We continue to list reports on dried fruits and other processed fruits and vegetables (except frozen goods) under food reports. We group all seafood together in one product group (deviating from the RASFF product group classification system).
You can easily evaluate the RASFF page yourself using various filter options and limit the reports to those that are of direct interest to your company. Link:
NOVEMBER 2025
Chemical Hazards:
| Product Group | Origin | Hazard | Notification |
| Cereals and bakery products | Italy | Heavy metals | Arsenic in brown rice |
| France | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in raw waxy corn | |
| India | Mycotoxins | Ochratoxin A in basmati rice (2) | |
| Netherlands | Mycotoxins | Ochratoxin A in banana flour | |
| Pakistan | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin B1 in rice (2) | |
| Cocoa and cocoa preparations, coffee and tea | Turkey | Biotoxins | Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in herbal tea |
| Confectionery | Belgium | Mineral oil residues | MOAH in marshmallow |
| Dietetic foods, food supplements and fortified foods | Belgium | Unauthorised ingredients | Presence of hydroxyanthracene derivatives (HAD) in a dietary supplement |
| India | Heavy metals | Lead and mercury in food supplement | |
| Sweden | Unauthorised ingredients | Muskimole, novel food (CBD, HHC, Cordyceps) and other unsafe ingredients in food supplements, confectionary and other food stuffs | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin B1 in dried figs | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in dried (organic) figs (17) (!) | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins and ochratoxin A in dried figs (6) | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Ochratoxin A in dried fig cubes or diced figs (4) | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Ochratoxin A in dried figs (16) (!) | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Ochratoxin A in dried organic mulberries | |
| China | Pesticides | Chlorpyrifos +) in raisins | |
| Germany | Pesticides | Chlorpyrifos +) , Fenpropathrin +) , Iprodione & Pydiflumetofen in raisins | |
| Turkey | Pesticides | Acetamiprid in raisins (snack for kids) | |
| Fish, crustaceae, bivalve molluscs, cephalo-& gastropods and product thereof | Ecuador & Venezuela | Preservatives | Excess sulfite levels detected in a batch of frozen shrimp |
| France | Biotoxins | ASP toxin in scallops | |
| India | Biotoxins | Ciguatera poisoning from eating frozen red snapper steak | |
| Indonesia | PAH | PAH's in smoked tilapia | |
| Italy | Biogenic amines | Histamine in anchovy fillets | |
| Mauritania | Heavy metals | Mercury in frozen corvina | |
| Spain | Heavy metals | Mercury in swordfish (Xiphias Gladius) | |
| Tunisia | Heavy metals | High levels of mercury in frozen Chouch's sea-bream | |
| Herbs and spices | Egypt | Mineral oil residues | MOAH 17.7 mg/kg (!) (0,5 mg/kg) in dried parsley |
| India | Biotoxins | Maximum content of pyrrolizidine alkaloids in cumin powder exceeded | |
| Italy | Biotoxins | Pyrrolizidine alkaloids 9670 µg/kg (!!!) (75 µg/kg) in herbal infusions intended for infants and young children | |
| Lebanon | Biotoxins | Pyrrolizidine alkaloids 5237,3 µg/kg (!) & 8745,4 µg/kg) (!) (400 µg/kg) in ground cumin (2) | |
| Turkey | Biotoxins | Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in dried oregano | |
| Ethiopia | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in spice mix | |
| Uganda | Mineral oil residues | MOAH 9.5 mg/kg (!) (0,5 mg/kg) in vanilla bean | |
| Nuts, nut products, pulses and seeds | Argentina | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in groundnuts (6) |
| Argentina | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin B1 in groundnuts | |
| Argentina | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in peanuts (2) | |
| Argentina | Mycotoxins | Alternaria toxin: Alternariol 102 µg/kg in roasted salted sunflower seeds | |
| Azerbajan | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in hazelnut kernel (2) | |
| China | Heavy metals | Cadmium in pinenut kernels | |
| China | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in groundnuts | |
| Iran | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin B1 65 µg/kg (!) & 120 µg/kg (!) (6,0 µg/kg) Aflatoxins (total) 72 µg/kg & 120 µg/kg (!) (10 µg/kg) in pistachio kernels (2) | |
| Netherlands | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in Katjang Pedis | |
| Nicaragua | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin B1 in groundnuts | |
| UAE | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in shelled pistachios (origin USA) (2) | |
| USA | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin B1 in peanuts | |
| USA | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin B1 in groundnuts (2) | |
| Prepared dishes and snacks | Egypt | Pesticides | Chlorpyrifos +) in peppers in brine |
| Egypt | Pesticides | Chlorpyrifos +) in black olives |
+) application is prohibited
MRL exceeded: (!) ≥10 times, (!!) ≥50 times, (!!!) ≥ 100 times
Microbiological Hazards:
| Product Group | Origin | Notification |
| Dietetic foods, food supplements and fortified foods | Germany | Detection of Salmonella spp. and presumptive Bacillus cereus in food supplements |
| Fish, crustaceae, bivalve molluscs, cephalo-& gastropods and product thereof | France | Detection of Salmonella spp. on sea almonds |
| Greece | E coli in live bivalve molluscs | |
| Netherlands | Listeria monocytogenes in smoked salmon | |
| Poland | Listeria monocytogenes in smoked salmon | |
| Herbs and spices | Unknown | Salmonella in pepper, notified by Germany |
| Milk and milk products | France | Presence of E. coli STEC O26H11 in Reblochon cheese (2) |
| Netherlands | Cronobacter spp. in infant formulae | |
| Nuts, nut products and seeds | Nigeria | Salmonella spp in sesame seeds (4) |
| Turkey | Salmonella spp in raw hazelnuts | |
| Turkey | STEC in Pomegranate seeds | |
| Uganda | Salmonella spp in sesame seeds | |
| Prepared dishes and snacks | Italy | Presence of botulinum toxin-producing clostridia and botulinum toxin in preserved vegetables (Napolitan-style broccoli friarielli) |
| Jordan | Salmonella Livingstone in tahini, notified by Germany | |
| Spain | Listeria monocytogenes in beetroot hummus |
Other hazards:
| Product Group | Origin | Hazard | Notification |
| Cereals and bakery products | Netherlands | Allergens | Undeclared allergens peanuts and sesame seeds in cheese sticks |
| Romania | Allergens | Undeclared allergen gluten in gluten free pasta | |
| Spain | Allergens | Undeclared milk proteins in cream cakes | |
| Cocoa and cocoa preparations, coffee and tea | Turkey | Allergens | Unlabeled allergen (peanut) in Dubai chocolate |
| Confectionery | Germany | Allergens | Unlabeled/incorrectly labeled allergen (milk protein) in sugar sprinkles |
| Dietetic foods, food supplements and fortified foods | USA | Vitamins | Food Supplements with too high level of vitamin D (2) |
| USA | Vitamins | Exceeding the acceptable daily intake of vitamins B5 and B6 in food supplements | |
| Other food product / mixed | Germany | Mineral oils | MOAH in medium-chain triglycerides (MCTs) oil |
| Prepared dishes and snacks | Czech Republic | Unauthorised ingredients | Unapproved novel food kratom |
| Luxembourg | Allergens | Undeclared allergen Sulphite in Potato pancakes | |
| Poland | Allergens | Gluten in gluten-free corn puffs from Poland |
Author: Dr. Frank Mörsberger, AGROLAB GROUP
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