Unsafe contamination was detected in 2,588 food or animal feedstuff items in the EU last year. In 691 cases contaminated food or feed may have crossed into other member states’ borders, and there were 1,897 incidents contained within individual countries, or stopped at EU borders.

Last year Iran topped the list of alerts and notifications for origin of food stuffs found with contaminants or illegal substances. It was followed by Turkey (181 alerts and information notices), China (163), India (111), Brazil (108), France (108), Italy (90), Germany (88) and Spain (80).

Iran was among 10 countries the European Commission notified about recurring problems in food exports. Taiwan, Brazil, Indonesia, China, Malaysia, the UK, the US and Ghana all received warning letters.

The UK was cited for parasites in fishery products, while the US was warned about the high incident of aflatoxins in nuts, nut products and snacks. EU member states accounted for 63% of alert notices and 12% of notifications.

EU candidate countries Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Turkey accounted for another 4% of alerts and 9% of notifications. Other non-EU countries accounted for 33% of alerts by origin of food product and 79% of notifications.

Last year 538 notifications concerned aflatoxins in pistachio nuts, which originated in Iran in 487 cases. As a result, the European Commission cracked down on pistachio imports from Iran, analysing all their consignments twice.

In 2004 there were 844 notifications on aflatoxins, 763 the year before, and 288 in 2002. The EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) has been in place since 1979, providing control authorities in member states with an effective food safety tool.

Nevertheless, contaminated food gets through. So far this year meat products in the UK contaminated with E coli bacteria led to 161 people falling sick, and the death of a boy in September. A processor was shut down.

In the same month, a Spanish cooked chicken processor, owned by the Dutch-based Nutreco company, was found to have poisoned 2,700 people with salmonella. A food poisoning outbreak in France left 18 people seriously ill, after they ate meat made by the Soviba company, bought at a supermarket.

Source