Europe: 16% Jump in food recalls last quarter

Stericycle ExpertSOLUTIONS, the global leader in product recalls, retrievals, returns and audits, has revealed that there was a significant rise in food recall and notification occurrences across Europe during the final three months of 2014.

Compared to the previous quarter, there was a 16 per cent jump in food recalls and notifications in Q4. Events were also up in comparison to Q4 in 2013, with almost 40 more recalls issued in the same quarter in 2014. Despite this increased activity there was barely a ripple in the media or on consumer forums.

Farzad Henareh, Stericycle ExpertSOLUTIONS European Recall Director, said: “Whilst there might be an increase in the amount of food products being recalled, there is also a growing trend towards taking action and entering the recall process at the earliest possible stage. This level of determination by food manufacturers to comply with the more regulated consumer environment is the most likely reason that we are seeing very few safety notifications in the public domain, and even less negative stories being broadcast across the media, despite food being a heavily scrutinised sector.”

Despite the Q4 rise in food recalls and notifications, recall stories have not seen the coverage or prominence in the media they once did. One explanation for this shift in media coverage is that the frequency of more severe safety issues, such as E. coli laden produce, is much lower than in previous quarters.

Fruit Vegetables
Consistent recall trends continue to surface across specific food categories and countries of origin. Between Q3 and Q4 the four food sub-categories with the highest increases in recalls and notifications were fish and fish products with 33 more recalls; fruit and vegetables also with 33 more; poultry meat and poultry meat products with 29 additional recalls and bivalve molluscs with 16 further recalls.

The top 5 countries of origin for the food sub-category recalls in Q4 2014 were: Turkey with 11 per cent, India with 7 per cent, Poland with 6 per cent, and France and China, each with 5 per cent.

The highest increase in fruit and vegetable recalls and notifications came from Turkey, which accounted for 53 of the 170 recalls in this sub-sector in Q4. They were related to over-high levels of aflatoxins, which are known to be carcinogenic at high levels in dried figs, and also due to high levels of sulphite in dried apricots.

Source: www.internationalsupermarketnews.com