Food Safety News and Resources | April
April 2025
28 April | Food Safety News and Free Resources1 |
⚠ Recall: Enoki mushrooms for Listeria (USA)
⚠ Recall: Apple juice for patulin (USA)
🍷 Wine safety: Forever chemical TFA found in 100% of wines (Europe)
🐛 Insect-related recalls (Canada and the United Kingdom)
🧪 PFAS in bottled water – good results (USA)
⚖ Proposed rule banning Salmonella in poultry withdrawn (USA)
⚠ Recall: Enoki mushrooms for Listeria AGAIN (USA)
This seems to happen every six months at least. Packages of enoki mushrooms have been recalled because they may be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. They were distributed nationwide. The contamination was discovered by the New York State Department of Agriculture during testing of samples purchased at a retail store. No illnesses have been reported.
⚠ Recall: Apple juice for patulin (USA)
More than 7,000 cases of apple juice have been recalled due to possible contamination with patulin, a mycotoxin produced by the apple-loving blue mould Penicillium expansum and other moulds.
🍷 Wine safety: Forever chemical TFA found in 100% of wines (Europe)
Scientists from the Pesticide Action Network tested 39 recently produced wines, including 5 organic wines, from 10 European countries. They discovered the forever chemical trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) – a type of PFAS - in all of them, at levels up to 320 µg/L. This is 100 times higher than average levels in drinking water. Wines harvested before 1988 were also tested and contained no TFA.
TFA levels were lowest in wines from grapes grown on land that has been organic for decades, and the report authors say this is evidence that the TFA is present due to the breakdown of PFAS chemicals in pesticides.
🐛 Insect-related recalls (Canada and the United Kingdom)
Spaghetti and linguine pasta has been recalled in Canada due to the presence of insects. Meanwhile, granola was recalled in the United Kingdom last month because of “a possible insect infestation”.
This type of recall seems to be becoming more common. Until recently, if you discovered a stored product pest infestation (for example, weevils, pantry moths, grain beetles) in a package of grain-based foods, the company would barely acknowledge it was their problem, let alone initiate a recall. I suspect the decision to recall is based on the potential risk posed by insects to consumers with a crustacean allergy, because there could be cross-reactivity between insects and crustaceans. If you know more about this, I’d love to hear from you!
And https://www.foodmanufacture.co.uk/Article/2025/03/24/insect-infestation-risk-sparks-granola-recall/
🧪 PFAS in bottled water – good results (USA)
Bottled water collected from retail locations in the USA in 2023 and 2024 has been tested by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and 100% met safety levels for public drinking water (n = 197). Five percent contained detectable levels of PFAS, but all were below the maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for PFAS in public drinking water.
https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/news/fda-shares-testing-results-for-pfas-in-bottled-water/
⚖ Proposed rule banning Salmonella in poultry withdrawn (USA)
The USDA FSIS has withdrawn the proposed legislation published as the Salmonella Framework for Raw Poultry after receiving more than 7,000 comments on the proposed rule.
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Edible insects fraud - is this the first detection?;
📌 False halal chicken guilty verdict, illegally ripened bananas seized;
📌 Pistachio warning;
📌 Large-scale, multi-brand powdered milk counterfeiting operation discovered, plus more.
14 April | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
Recall: Celery Sticks for Listeria (USA) |
Alert + Recall Garlic powder with peanut allergens (UK, Ireland) |
Raw milk hard cheese safe from bird flu? |
Radionucleotides have been flagged as a hazard in seafood due to Fukushima (Global) |
Enforcement of Salmonella in breaded-chicken products delayed (USA) |
Webinar - Food Defense Requirements and Common Errors, 25th April |
Webinar - Avoiding Sanitation Pitfalls: Challenges and Opportunities for Your Environmental Monitoring Program, 1st May |
⚠ Recall: Celery Sticks for Listeria (USA)
Fresh celery sticks sold in Walmart in 30 states have been recalled after sampling by authorities detected Listeria monocytogenes. No reports of illnesses have been noted.
⚠ Alert + Recall: Garlic powder with peanut allergens (UK, Ireland)
Garlic powder containing undecclared peanut has been the subject of alerts and recalls in the United Kingdom and Ireland. This is reminiscent of alleged food fraud in garlic supply chains, possibly due to the presence of peanut shell as a diluent in the garlic powder a few years ago.
https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/alert/fsa-aa-13-2025-update-2
🥛🧬 Raw milk hard cheese safe from bird flu?
A testing program started by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to discover whether the aging process in raw milk cheese - legally aged to a minimum of 60 days in the US - will reduce or eliminate viable H5N1, also known as highly pathogenic avian influenza. The program aims to assess 299 samples.
So far, 110 samples have been tested. Of those, 96 were negative by PCR (meaning that H5N1 was not detected in the analyzed samples), and 14 are still in progress. Final results are expected in the next few months.
☢🐟 Radionucleotides have been flagged as a hazard in seafood due to Fukushima (Global)
Scientists are warning that the international seafood supply chain is at risk from radionucleotides that will end up in seawater due to the discharge of water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Fukushima-contaminated water contains 63 non-tritium radionuclides that can accumulate in various organisms and their organs and so move around the world’s oceans and into global seafood supply chains at rates faster than would occur solely through ocean currents (via Food Safety News)
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c08145
🦠 Enforcement of Salmonella in breaded-chicken products delayed (USA)
The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (USDA-FSIS) has delayed the date on which its verification sampling program for breaded, stuffed chicken products will begin. The dates have been moved from 1st May to 3rd November 2025.
🛑 Food defence: critical monitoring and control factors (peer-reviewed paper)
Researchers in Brazil have studied the practices of food businesses within the Brazilian food industry around food defence topics and suggested a model that will foster international collaboration in food safety initiatives.
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/risa.70025?af=R
🎓 Webinar - Food Defense Requirements and Common Errors, 25th April
Join AIB Research & Education for a free webinar exploring food defense strategies, essential requirements, and common pitfalls.
Register here:
Food Defense Requirements and Common Errors - AIB Research & Education
🎓 Webinar - Avoiding Sanitation Pitfalls: Challenges and Opportunities for Your Environmental Monitoring Program, 1st May
Join Food Safety Magazine for a webinar featuring industry experts discussing maintaining proper environmental conditions in your plant, sampling zone selection, and effective techniques. Learn about pitfalls in your Environmental Monitoring Program (EMP), common mistakes, and why these programs may fail to eliminate pathogens like Listeria and Salmonella, with examples from the meat, poultry, and fresh produce sectors.
Register here:
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Lab smashed: Links to organised crime in honey?
📌 Greenwashing standard published;
📌 Analytical methods for dairy, oils, fish, poultry, coriander;
📌 Warnings for poultry imports, corn and fraud in butter, eggs, snapper and more.
7 April | Food Safety News and Free Resources |
Outbreak: 200 hospitalised from contaminated buckwheat flour (India) |
Recall: Chocolate bars due to small stones (UK, Europe, Australia) |
Recall: Mixed salad and baby spinach products for Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) (Australia) |
Recall: liquid egg for sodium hypochlorite (USA) |
Chewing gum a source of microplastics – new research |
What is “safe enough”? New research examines cognitive biases in food safety risks |
Food dyes banned in West Virginia (USA) |
Unusual alert: Tropane alkaloids in popcorn (Portugal) |
AI-driven predictive models in food safety management – new research |
Egg safety and egg production, call for submissions (Australia) |
Webinar - FSMA 204: How to Achieve Traceability and Transparency Along Your Supply Chain, 15th April |
Webinar – The Most Common SQF Certification Audit Non-Conformances, on-demand |
🏥 Outbreak: 200 hospitalised from contaminated buckwheat flour (India)
More than 200 people were hospitalised after consuming dishes made with contaminated buckwheat flour. Doctors suspect the buckwheat was affected by mould.
⚠ Recall: Chocolate bars due to small stones (UK, Europe, Australia)
Certain flavours of chocolate bar containing almonds, including: dark almond sea salt, ‘Everything Bar’ and ‘Greatest bits’ are being recalled because they may contain small stones. Three batches of each variant are affected. Consumers found the stones which the manufacturer said were present in the almonds. “Once we started to receive consumer complaints, we were able to trace the issue back to one of our almond suppliers. After further investigation, it appears that a new origin of almonds in a limited batch was insufficiently processed at the supplier's factory, resulting in a risk of foreign objects - small stones - being present in the final products that were made.”
https://www.food.gov.uk/news-alerts/alert/fsa-prin-17-2025 and https://tonyschocolonely.com/pages/recall-fo-intl-0325
⚠ Recall: Mixed salad and baby spinach products for Shiga-toxin producing E. coli (STEC) (Australia)
STEC was detected in two ready-to-eat spinach products purchased in separate locations during a public health surveillance program in Australia, sparking a series of recalls for mixed leaves, mixed salad leaves and baby spinach products nationwide. No illnesses have been reported.
https://www.foodstandards.gov.au/food-recalls/shiga-toxin-producing-e-coli-stec-spinach-products
⚠ Recall: liquid egg for sodium hypochlorite (USA)
More than 100 tons of liquid egg have been recalled because they may contain the cleaning solution sodium hypochlorite (bleach). Food Safety News reported that the recall was initiated after authorities received a tip about the contamination.
😮 Chewing gum a source of microplastics – new research
Research published in the Journal of Hazardous Materials reveals that tens of thousands of microplastic particles can be found in saliva during gum chewing. Even short-duration gum chewing resulted in microplastics being released from the gum into the mouth.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389424035593#ab0010
🦺 What is “safe enough”? New research examines cognitive biases in food safety risks
Research published in Trends in Food Science & Technology explores the role of cognitive and cultural biases in estimating food safety risks.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0924224424004874
🛑 Food dyes banned in West Virginia
Seven food dyes and two preservatives have been prohibited from use in food for sale in the state of West Virginia from January 1, 2028. The banned additives are:
Red Dye No. 3,
Red Dye No. 40,
Yellow Dye No. 5,
Yellow Dye No. 6,
Blue Dye No. 1,
Dye No. 2,
Green Dye No. 3
butylated hydroxyanisole,
propylparaben
https://www.qualityassurancemag.com/news/west-virginia-bans-seven-food-dyes/
🍿⚠Unusual alert: Tropane alkaloids in popcorn (Portugal)
Maize (corn) for popcorn was detained in Portugal after it was found to contain tropane alkaloids. The maize originated in Argentina.
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/rasff-window/screen/notification/755266
🤖 AI-driven predictive models in food safety management – new research
New research explores the reliability of AI-driven predictive models in food safety risk management. Key sentences from the abstract are as follows:
“Nevertheless, the reliability of their predictions is still questionable due to factors such as data integrity, model interpretability, and regulatory compliance that influence their applicability in practice. Despite AI's potential, challenges such as inconsistent data sources, varying regulatory standards, and adaptability across diverse food production environments limit its efficacy.”
Egg safety and egg production, call for submissions (Australia)
FSANZ invites written submissions on the assessment of the following proposal via the FSANZ Consultation Hub by 11:59pm (Canberra time) Monday 12 May 2025.
P1060 - Egg Food Safety & Primary Production Requirements: this proposal will consider amending the Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code to provide new and/or amended food safety and primary production requirements for eggs and egg products.
🎓Webinar - FSMA 204: How to Achieve Traceability and Transparency Along Your Supply Chain, 15th April
In this webinar hosted by Food Safety Magazine, representatives from the fresh produce and food service distribution sectors and a traceability-focused industry organization will explain the actions companies should take now to comply with the traceability requirements of FSMA 204.
Register here: FSMA 204: How to Achieve Traceability and Transparency Along Your Supply Chain Registration
🎓Webinar – The Most Common SQF Certification Audit Non-Conformances, on-demand
In this webinar, Tony Connor of The International Food Safety & Quality Network lists the top non-conformances in SQF audits from the past three years.
Watch on demand: The Most Common SQF Certification Audit Non-Conformances - International Food Safety and Quality Network
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Food fraud risks from tariffs;
📌 Adulteration in tomato paste;
📌 Waste animal byproducts diverted to human food;
📌 Bulk milk thefts (2 countries), wine fakery, counterfeit coffee and more.
Past Issues of Food Safety News
Food Safety News, February 2025
Food Safety News, January 2025