Recently, officials from the European Commission’s health and safety agency have claimed that voluntary approaches to tackle certain mycotoxins in dried figs and pistachios in Turkey don’t seem to be working.
A DG Sante audit, in May and June 2022, included authorities, laboratories, producers and exporters. In 2021, there were 53 reports of aflatoxin in dried figs and 27 for pistachios. There are no EU limits for ochratoxin A in dried figs, but five RASFF alerts were issued in 2021.
Follow-up of RASFF notifications for figs can often find the cause and details corrective actions but in pistachios, it is less well carried out and documented. Turkish officials said a focus has been put on pistachios to ensure that investigation reports contain detailed information. Training will also be given to producers subject to a RASFF notification.
Auditors found there are signs that a low trend in rejection rates in pre-export testing is increasing year-on-year. They said this suggests the promotion of preventive measures to be implemented on a voluntary basis has not given the desired results.
Source: foodsafetynews.com