March ended with slightly less recalls (98) reported in Europe than in the previous month (105).
Country of Origin
France topped the list of countries where food recalled originated from, mostly due to several cases of Listeria. Another pathogen, Salmonella, was responsible for some of the recalls reported in Germany.
High levels of pesticides, in turn, caused a shipment of grapefruits from Turkey to be denied entry into the European market.
Similarly to the previous month, several products originating from China were recalled due to migration of unauthorised substances from food contact materials to food.
Type of product
Fruits and vegetables were the most recalled product category, predominantly because of high levels of pesticide residues in produce from Turkey and Egypt. In fact, the rejection of citrus fruit consignments from Turkey has been seeing an exponential increase, following the detection of residues of pesticides banned in the EU. A Spanish organisation has even recently demanded that the EU stop the import of citrus fruits from the country.
Dietetic Foods and Supplements come next in the list, due to high levels of toxins (especially cyanide) and originating mainly in Slovakia and Czech Republic.
The top 3 of product categories closes with Herbs and Spices, where the EU also detected high levels of unauthorised pesticides.
Reason for Recall
Unauthorised substances (mainly ethylene oxide in seeds and chlorpyrifos in fruits) were the main reason why food was recalled in March, followed closely by toxins and chemicals, such as cyanide, ochratoxin A and cadmium.
Other reasons include pathogens (Salmonella and Listeria) in dairy products from France, chilled pork from Germany, chicken nuggets from Poland, among others.
Country of Recall
More than one fifth of all food recalls in March were reported by Germany. This includes cases of unauthorised substances, foreign bodies and pathogens.
France is second on the list, mostly due to pathogens (Listeria and Salmonella), as well as Norovirus in oysters.
Belgium, Spain and Italy each reported about the same number of recalls. Less usual problems include plastic particles in salt and Diarrhoeic Shellfish Poisoning (DSP) in frozen cooked mussels. DSP is caused by dinophysis toxins present in bivalves and produces gastrointestinal symptoms, usually beginning within 30 minutes to a few hours after consumption of toxic shellfish.
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