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In this article, we repeat important alerts from the European Commission's RASFF system from the past month.
The table is even clearer. We sort the notifications by product group, using the headings in the RASFF system and the countries of origin in the second column as a guide. You know your raw materials, products and their origins best. This enables you to swiftly determine whether any notifications in the rapid alert system are relevant to you. We have classified notifications marked as 'serious' as relevant in the system.
We generally refrain from repeating measured values and comparing maximum permissible levels of individual contaminants. In addition, we will largely stop issuing warnings about microbiological contamination in the following product groups: meat and meat products, poultry and poultry products, fish and seafood, and milk and milk products. For ten years, there have been recurring reports on known pathogenic germs every month. Furthermore, these perishable foods are usually unavailable by the time our report is published.
We continue to list notifications concerning dried and processed fruit and vegetables (excluding frozen goods) under 'Food Notifications'. However, we group all seafood and algae together in one product group, deviating from the RASFF product group classification system.
You can easily evaluate the RASFF page yourself using the various filter options to limit the notifications to those of direct interest to your company. Link:
September 2026
Chemical Hazards:
| Product Group | Origin | Hazard | Notification |
| Cereals and bakery products | France | Mycotoxins | Excessive levels of rye ergot (540 µg/kg (!!!) (1 µg/kg)) in wheat semolina and tapioca |
| Cocoa and cocoa preparations, coffee and tea | Sri Lanka | Biotoxins | Pyrrolizidine alkaloid content exceeded in black tea |
| Confectionary | USA | Unauthorised ingredients | High levels of delta-9-THC+)in fruit gums |
| Dried fruits (nuts see below) | China | Pesticides | Anthraqinone residues in dried black date |
| Iran | Mycotoxins | Raisins containing Ochratoxin A | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins (124 µg/kg (!) (10 µg/kg)) in dried apricots | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin contamination in dried figs (6) | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins and Ochratoxin A in dried figs (2) | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Ochratoxin A in dried figs (9) | |
| USA | Unauthorised ingredients | Too much nicotinic acid in food supplements, via the Netherlands | |
| Fats and oils | Nigeria | Unauthorised colour | Sudan-4 +) in palmoil |
| Spain | Industrial contaminants | Glycidyl esters in refined avocado oil | |
| Fish, crustaceae, bivalve molluscs, cephalo-& gastropods and product thereof | Albania | Biogenic amines | Histamine above limits in anchovy fillets in oil |
| Morocco | Biogenic amines | Histamine in canned sardines | |
| Morocco | Heavy metals | Mercury in bluefin tuna | |
| Myanmar | Environmental pollutant | PAH (49 µg/kg (!) (2 µg/kg)) in dried smoked shrimp | |
| Netherlands | Biogenic amines | Histamine in mackerel | |
| Spain | Heavy metals | High content of mercury in swordfish fillet | |
| Spain | Heavy metals | Mercury in thawed swordfish fillets, flavored | |
| Herbs and spices | Turkey | Biotoxins | Pyrrolizidine alkaloids in cumin powder |
| Nuts, nut products, pulses and seeds | Argentina | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in peanuts resp. groundnuts (3) |
| Azerbaijan | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in shelled hazelnuts | |
| Iran | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in pistachios (2) | |
| Nicaragua | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in peanuts resp. groundnuts (2) | |
| Portugal | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin in Organic almond flour | |
| Turkey | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins (aflatoxin B1 and total aflatoxins) in peanuts | |
| USA | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxin B1 and sum of aflatoxin in shelled pistachios (2) | |
| USA | Mycotoxins | Aflatoxins in pistachio crumble, via Italy |
+) Application prohibited
MRL exceeded: (!) ≥10 times, (!!) ≥50 times, (!!!) ≥100 times
Microbiological Hazards:
| Product Group | Origin | Notification |
| Fish, crustaceae, bivalve molluscs, cephalo-& gastropods and product thereof | Lithuania | Listeria monocytogenes was detected in cold-smoked whole capelin |
| Netherlands | Listeria monocytogenes in salmon fillet | |
| Netherlands | Presence of salmonella in mussels (2) | |
| Eggs and egg products | Netherlands | Eggs from a Dutch stable that tested positive for Salmonella |
| Herbs and spices | Ethiopia | Salmonella Aberdeen in dried Moringa powder |
| Milk and milk products | France | E coli STEC in french Brie cheese |
| Italy | Escherichia coli STEC positivity detected on raw milk cheese | |
| Nuts, nut products and seeds | India | Salmonella spp in black sesame seeds |
| Lebanon | Salmonella spp in sesame paste | |
| Turkey | Salmonella in hazelnut paste |
Other Hazards:
| Product Group | Origin | Hazard | Notification |
| Cocoa and cocoa preparations, coffee and tea | Belgium | Allergens | Allergen soya in French not mentioned on the label of chocolate |
| Other food products & Prepared dishes and snacks | Iraq | Allergens | Undeclared allergens sesame and peanuts in tahini halva |
| Netherlands | Allergens | Undeclared allergen soy and wheat in nasi goreng seasoning mix |
Author: Dr. Frank Mörsberger, AGROLAB GROUP
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