24 March | Food Safety News and Free Resources1 |
Frozen fish recalled for antibiotics (Canada) |
Recalls for wood in ready meals and metal in beef sticks (Canada and USA) |
Chemical contaminants database (USA) |
Traceability rule date extended (USA) |
Good Governance Guide for Directors (Resource) |
Produce washing operations: Help the produce safety experts at CONTACT |
Webinar - Unlocking Food Safety: Understanding & Detecting Bacillus cereus in Australia & New Zealand, 26th March |
Webinar - Spring Cleaning for Your Training Program, 28th March |
⚠ Frozen fish recalled for antibiotics (Canada)
Basa, a freshwater fish raised in aquaculture facilities, usually in Vietnam, has been recalled in Canada due to the presence of 3-amino-2-oxazolidinone. 3-amino-2-oxazolidinone, a metabolite connected with the antibiotic furazolidone. This is an unusual recall, though perhaps not an unusual hazard, in such fish.
⚠ Recalls for wood in ready meals and metal in beef sticks (USA)
Lean Cuisine and Stouffer ready meals have been recalled after consumer complaints of wood-like material in the products. There has been a potential choking incident. Beef sticks have been recalled after consumer complaints about pieces of metal in the product, although no injuries were reported. The quantity of beef sticks recalled is 14 tons of product.
https://www.fda.gov/safety/recalls-market-withdrawals-safety-alerts/nestle-usa-announces-voluntary-recall-limited-quantity-lean-cuisiner-and-stouffersr-frozen-meals-due and https://www.foodsafetynews.com/2025/03/company-recalls-more-than-14-tons-of-beef-sticks-because-of-metal-pieces-in-product/
📋 Chemical contaminants database (USA)
A database of chemical food contaminants, designed for industry but also able to be used by consumers, has been unveiled by the US Health and Human Services as part of the “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. The database, called Chemical Contaminants Transparency Tool for Foods, lists contaminant names, contaminant levels in foods, regulations, tolerances, action levels and guidance levels.
⚖ Traceability rule date extended (USA)
The US FDA announced last week that the compliance date for the Food Traceability Rule (the “final rule”) has been extended by 30 months. This gives businesses more time to implement the traceability systems required under the new rule.
📖 Good governance guide for directors (resource)
The Food Safety Good Governance Guide for Directors addresses the company board’s role in food safety in food businesses and provides a suite of tools and information to assist directors with developing their food safety governance capabilities, including a checklist and examples of food safety performance measures.
Although it’s aimed at directors and company boards, the content is also useful for business owners and senior managers. Written by the New Zealand Ministry for Primary Industries, it has valuable information and tools for leaders from any country.
https://www.mpi.govt.nz/dmsdocument/31386-Food-Safety-Good-Governance-guide-for-directors
🚿 🌿 Produce washing operations: Help the produce safety experts at CONTACT (University of Florida Extension)
From Contact:
We need your input! If your operation washes whole produce using hydrocoolers, flumes, dump tanks, or spray bars, please take less than 10 minutes to complete our confidential survey on postharvest water use.
Your feedback will help improve best practices in produce harvesting and packing operations. Any size operation can participate!
If you manage multiple facilities, please select one for your responses.
🎓Webinar - Unlocking Food Safety: Understanding & Detecting Bacillus cereus in Australia & New Zealand, 26th March
Join Neogen for an insightful webinar on Bacillus cereus in the food safety landscape of Australia and New Zealand.
Register here:
Unlocking Food Safety: Understanding & Detecting Bacillus cereus in Australia & New Zealand
🎓Webinar - Spring Cleaning for Your Training Program, 28th March
Intertek Alchemy is hosting a webinar to enhance and streamline your training efforts.
Register here: Registration
17 March | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
Multi-year, multi-country Salmonella outbreak (Europe) |
Recall: Breakfast cereal for choking hazard from lumps of sugar (UK) |
Microplastics in fish - survey (USA) |
Is table salt a source of heavy metals? |
Webinar - The most common SQF Certification Audit Non-Conformances, 19th March |
Webinar - Avoid Costly Sanitation Failures with Validation, Verification, and Re-Validation, 31st March |
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⚠ Multi-year, multi-country Salmonella outbreak (Europe)
Investigators have linked 509 cases of salmonellosis with a single supplier of alfalfa sprouts (sprouted alfalfa seeds, lucerne) in Italy. The cases were linked using whole genome sequencing and food tracing. A number of recalls and market withdrawals have occurred, however new cases continue. The first cases were reported in January 2023. The seeds were sourced from three growers. The contamination point is unknown and investigations are ongoing.
⚠ Recall: Breakfast cereal for choking hazard from lumps of sugar (UK)
Frosted shreddies breakfast cereal has been recalled because it may contain hard lumps of sugar which present a risk of choking.
🐟 Microplastics in fish - survey (USA)
Researchers have quantified and examined anthropogenic particles, including microplastics, in the edible tissues of vessel-retrieved and retail-purchased samples of black rockfish, lingcod, Chinook salmon, Pacific herring, Pacific lamprey, and pink shrimp from the west coast of the USA with microscopy. Particles were identified using μFTIR spectroscopy. Of the 182 individual animals in the survey, 180 contained anthropogenic particles. The particle forms were fibres (82%), fragments (*17%) and films (0.7%). Some species had more particles in store-bought samples and some fewer.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/toxicology/articles/10.3389/ftox.2024.1469995/full
🧪 Is table salt a source of heavy metals?
Data from 11,574 US residents was used to examine the relationship between table salt consumption and urinary concentration of heavy metals. Associations were found between various usage patterns, such as adding salt during food preparation and using salt substitutes, and the level of cadmium, antimony, molybdenum, barium, caesium and thallium in urine. The researchers conclude that some salt usage patterns could be a source of increased exposure to some heavy metals.
https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/nutrition/articles/10.3389/fnut.2024.1521826/full
🎓Webinar - The most common SQF Certification Audit Non-Conformances, 19th March
Hosted by IFSQN, the webinar will highlight information on the most common critical, major, and minor non-conformances identified during certification audits over the past few years.
Register here:
The most common SQF Certification Audit Non-Conformances
🎓Webinar - Avoid Costly Sanitation Failures with Validation, Verification, and Re-Validation, 31st March
Join Food Safety Magazine for a webinar where speakers will discuss critical aspects of validating and verifying sanitation methods, tools, and effectiveness.
Register here:
Avoid Costly Sanitation Failures with Validation, Verification, and Re-Validation Registration
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Emerging risks in coffee, meat, prawns, feed grain;
📌 Method for authentication of parmesan cheese;
📌 Fraud in besan;
📌 Undeclared vegetable oil blending, and more.
10 March | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
Recall: sauce due to foaming (USA) |
Recall: vegetables for botulism risk (USA) |
Recall: cat food due to bird flu (USA) |
Recall for food dyes (USA) |
Bird flu in rats (USA) |
Illegal pesticides found in spaza shop (South Africa)) |
Urine on food – one person charged (USA) |
Webinar – Effective Strategies for Food Safety Culture, 11th March |
Webinar - Securing Management and Employee Buy-In for Effective Food Safety Training, 25th April |
⚠ Recall: sauce due to foaming (USA)
Garlic parmesan wing sauce has been recalled after consumers complained of foaming when bottles were opened. The foaming could indicate the presence of dangerous bacteria.
⚠ Recall: vegetables for botulism risk (USA)
Vegetable-based products sold in sealed plastic pouches have been recalled over botulism concerns. The packages did not state “Keep Refrigerated”.
⚠ Recall: cat food due to bird flu (USA)
Two indoor domestic cats have been infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) with one cat needing to be euthanized due to the severity of the illness. The cats are suspected to have contracted the disease from raw pet food, with the pet food subject to a recall by the Washington State Deparment of Agriculture. There is a risk to pet owners who can contract the diease from their pets.
🖌 Recall for food dyes (USA)
Snack mix was recalled for undeclared food dyes Yellow No. 5, Yellow No. 6, and Red No. 6 and other allergens.
🐀 Bird flu in rats (USA)
Black rats were tested by the USDA for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) and four rats tested positive. Rats present a high risk for transmission of the virus to people because of their proximity to people, their pets and farm animals.
https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/news/usda-confirms-bird-flu-detected-in-four-rats-in-california/
🛑 Illegal pesticides found in spaza shop (South Africa)
The large number of chemical food poisonings that have occurred in South Africa in past months have been blamed on pesticides in spaza shops.
Officials confiscated pesticides that are illegal, packaged in bottles and sachets from a spaza shop during a raid. A meat product that did not have the address of the manufacturer was also confiscated.
🧪 Urine on food – one person charged (USA)
A 23-year-old content creator has been charged after complaints about a video which showed them contaminating bulk food items in a store with urine. It is thought that the person had been committing similar crimes since 2021.
🎓 Webinar – Effective Strategies for Food Safety Culture, 11th March
During this webinar, attendees will:
Recognize common challenges in food manufacturing change management, such as employee resistance and siloed thinking, and understand their impact on food safety culture transformations
Learn strategies for assessing and improving FSC within organizations, and gain insights on culture evaluation and enhancement to overcome obstacles
Gain practical knowledge on successful FSC change programs and transformation journeys from real-world experiences, enabling attendees to navigate challenges and achieve lasting improvements in their FSC initiatives
🎓 Webinar - Securing Management and Employee Buy-In for Effective Food Safety Training, 25th April
In this webinar, IFSQN will highlight the pivotal role of securing buy-in from both management and employees to ensure the success of food safety training initiatives.
Register here: Securing Management & Employee Buy-In for Effective Food Safety Traini
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Olive oil test methods;
📌 Computational modelling for food safety risks from food fraud;
📌 Cupuaçu authenticity;
📌 (Not) organic ricotta, coffee and cocoa bean smuggling, counterfeit seeds, stolen avocadoes and more.
3 March | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
Massive egg recall (Norway) |
Mystery Listeria deaths solved (USA) |
Global recall/withdrawal of guar gum |
Fish PFAS recall/withdrawal (Egypt, Ireland) |
Webinar - Food Safety Essentials: Navigating Chemical Contaminants in Your Safety Plan, 20th March |
Webinar - Food Tech, Digital Transformation and AI, 25th March |
⚠ Massive egg recall (Norway)
Six hundred tons of eggs have been recalled after too much vitamin D was added to chicken feed. Affected eggs could contain up to 300 micrograms of vitamin D, while the safe daily intake is less than 100 micrograms for adults. Pigs have also been given the tainted feed and there have been reports that 300 to 500 pigs were culled and that up to 300 pigs had already been processed for human food before the alarm was raised.
The overdosing occurred due to a miscalculation at the feed manufacturer.
https://www.animalfeedmea.com/2025/02/20/norway-recalls-600-tons-of-eggs-over-vitamin-d-overdose-in-feed/ and https://wataha.no/en/2025/02/07/ostrzezenie-dla-konsumentow-nortura-i-coop-wycofuja-jaja-ze-sprzedazy-z-powodu-zagrozenia-zdrowia/
💀 Mystery Listeria deaths solved (USA)
In January’s Food Safety News, we reported on a mystery Listeria outbreak that had sickened at least 34 people but that had not been linked with any foods.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has now reported on an outbreak of listeriosis that it became aware of in November 2024 and which it says the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has linked to cases dating back to 2018. The FDA says 38 people have been affected, with 37 hospitalised and 12 deaths.
Most of the victims were either residents of long-term care facilities or had been in hospital prior to their illnesses. Nutritional shakes have been linked to the outbreak and two brands of shakes are being recalled. Environmental swabbing at the manufacturer revealed Listeria monocytogenes bacteria that are a close genetic match to the illness strain.
⚠ Global withdrawal of guar gum
Mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbon (MOAH) has been discovered in refined guar gum from Pakistan during a company’s check in the Netherlands. The material was distributed in 22 countries worldwide and has been flagged for recall or withdrawal.
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/747699
🦦Withdrawal of fish for PFAS (Egypt)
Horse mackerel from Ireland has been withdrawn from the market in Egypt after government testing revealed it contained PFAS compounds at a concentration of 50 µg/kg, which is more than 4 times the allowed maximum of 8 µg/kg.
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/747493
🎓Webinar - Food Safety Essentials: Navigating Chemical Contaminants in Your Safety Plan, 20th March
Nestlé is hosting a webinar to provide an overview of common chemical contaminants that can enter food products during harvesting and production and key points for controlling them in your food safety plan.
🎓Webinar - Food Tech, Digital Transformation and AI, 25th March
Join New Food for an insightful webinar on the cutting-edge impact of food tech, digital transformation, and AI. Explore how these innovations reshape food safety, supply chains, and the industry's future.
Register here: Food tech, digital transformation & AI - New Food Magazine
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Fraud in herbal extracts;
📌 Horizon scanning: European food and ag policy for 2025 and beyond;
📌 Cocoa warning, egg crisis;
📌 Palm oil adulteration, herbal tea with undeclared pharmaceuticals, olive oil fraud.
Past Issues of Food Safety News
Food Safety News, February 2025
Food Safety News, January 2025
Food Safety News, December 2024