125 | Global Recall Report Card | 5 Mini Case Studies | Floor Salmon | Chlorates in Food |
125 | Global Recall Report Card | 5 Mini Case Studies | Floor Salmon | Chlorates in Food |
Plus, a toolkit for food authenticity decision-making
Recalls: 2023 by the numbers;
Chlorate and perchlorates in food;
5 food crime mini case studies: floor salmon, disappearing poultry meat and more;
Food Safety News and Resources;
February meetup report;
Food fraud news, emerging issues and recent incidents
🎧 (New) Listen (now for everyone!) 🎧
新年快乐!
Welcome to Issue 125 of The Rotten Apple. 🏮 Happy Lunar New Year 🏮 and Random Acts 🤍 of Kindness Week.
This week I unpack a global report on food recalls from 2023 and provide an introduction to chlorates and perchlorates in food.
Also, this week: a summary of our first meetup of 2024 and our usual food safety news roundup. The big news in food safety this week is that a nine-year-long American Listeria outbreak has finally got a source. So far it’s sickened dozens and killed two people, so being able to (finally) link it to a manufacturer is a big deal. Find that story in this week’s food safety news.
My favourite part of this issue is a set of five mini-case studies, where I share the details behind a spate of recent prosecutions and sentencing for food safety and food fraud breaches. From disappearing poultry meat to floor salmon, these provide fascinating insights into criminal behaviour in the food industry.
Lots of food fraud news for paying subscribers today, including links to a new toolkit for authenticity/fraud decision-makers.
May you have a prosperous week full of random acts of kindness and good health,
Karen
P.S. Thanks a million to new subscribers 👏👏 Karoline from Norway, Anon from the UK, and Yvette from USA 👏👏 for supporting my work and helping to grow our community of global food safety champions. I couldn’t do this without subscribers like you!
Meetup Report
Our first meetup of 2024 was a lively and pleasant experience, with attendees from the UK, America, Australia and New Zealand. We discussed recent food crime prosecutions and allegations, including the lead-cinnamon-applesauce scandal in the USA/Ecuador and the 2 Sisters Food Group thefts (UK), gaining insights from attendees who have direct experience with the parties involved.
We shared thoughts on how to account for ‘outlier’ events and hard-to-predict events in food fraud and food safety hazard risk assessments and learned about the intriguing circumstances surrounding an almost-impossible-to-predict/prevent food safety incident in New Zealand.
The next meetup is Thursday 14th March. Stay tuned for details.
Global Recall Roundup 2023
The RQA Group have published their annual review of global recalls, which addresses food recalls in the US, Canada, UK, EU and Australia, as well as covering automotive recalls and consumer products.
I’ve summarised the main points for each region here, but for more details, especially regarding the state of play in the USA, read the full report.
USA recalls, 2023
Following lower levels in recent pandemic-affected years, 2023 saw the highest number of (US) FDA and USDA-regulated recalls since 2019 and the highest number of affected products since 2017, although there were fewer recall events (FDA) than in 2017. On average, the number of products affected by each recall was higher than in previous years.
Events that should be easily prevented and could cause serious harm, that is events that should never happen, and referred to as ‘never events’ in the RQA report, were higher in 2023 than in past years (FDA-regulated foods). Never events include recalls due to allergen mislabelling, which accounted for almost half of all US recall events in 2023.
Prepared dishes, pasta and noodles were the most commonly recalled food category (FDA) in 2023. Confectionery was the most common category in 2022 and fell to the second most commonly recalled category for 2023.
The number one reason for recalls was microbial pathogens, particularly Listeria, followed by allergens and foreign bodies, with those positions unchanged from 2022. However, recalls for unsanitary conditions and (non-allergen) labelling errors accounted for a much higher proportion of recalls in 2023 compared to 2022.
Canada recalls, 2023
The number of recalls in Canada in 2023 was the lowest since before 2017, and 30% lower than in 2022.
Pathogens were the main cause of recall events, particularly Listeria. In Canada, ‘never events’ caused just 15% of recalls, the lowest among all regions in the report.
United Kingdom recalls, 2023
The number of recalls in the United Kingdom in 2023 was lower than before 2017 with an overall downward trend in the annual number of recalls since 2018.
Allergens were the leading cause of recalls in the UK in 2023, followed by foreign bodies, then microorganisms. Confectionery and prepared dishes, pasta and noodles were the most affected food categories, accounting for more than half of recalls in the UK in 2023.
‘Never events’, which should be easily preventable and could result in serious harm accounted for 32% of UK recalls in 2023, a significant reduction compared to previous years.
EU alerts, 2023
EU figures are derived from Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) notifications, which typically only include food safety events which affect more than one country. RASFF notifications also include events that are not recalls, making comparisons with other regions difficult.
There were slightly more RASFF alert notifications (safety-related) in the EU in 2023 compared to 2022, and slightly fewer than in 2020 and 2021.
The food categories with the most alerts were fruit and veg and poultry meats and poultry meat products, with these two categories together accounting for around one-quarter of alerts.
Australia and New Zealand recalls, 2023
The number of recalls in 2023 was similar to the number in 2022 and lower than in 2020.
Confectionery, prepared dishes, pasta and noodles, and fruit and veg were the most often affected food categories. Labelling errors related to allergens were the top cause of recalls in Australia and New Zealand, with other allergen-related causes accounting for a large proportion of the remaining recalls, followed by microorganisms.
In Australia/New Zealand, around 30% of recalls in 2023 could be considered ‘never events’.
Source: RQA Group (2024) Record Recall Figures and New Emerging Risks – Product Recall Report 2023
Chlorates and perchlorates in food
Chlorates and perchlorates are food contaminants with potentially harmful effects on consumers, especially from long-term exposure, and for children and people with an iodine deficiency.
Chlorates are generated in food when chlorine-containing compounds in chlorinated water, disinfectants or sanitisers degrade or react with food components and the environment to form chlorates, which are salts of chloric acid.
The equation below shows hypochlorite ions in sodium hypochlorite (bleach, water treatment agent) degrading into chlorate ions. Such ions can also form as a byproduct when chlorine dioxide gas is used as a disinfectant.
Perchlorates can form from the chlorates created by sodium hypochlorite (bleach) degradation. They are also naturally occurring in deposits of nitrate and potash, and are released into the environment when those minerals are used as fertilisers. Certain industrial processes also release perchlorates into the environment.
The formation of chlorates and perchlorates as byproducts of disinfection and water treatment can be minimised and controlled by proper management of temperature, pH and duration of storage.
The presence of chlorates and perchlorates in food and drinking water is regulated and limited in some jurisdictions, including the European Union and certain US states, with maximum residue levels set at between 2µg/L (water, US state) and 0.75 mg/kg (food, Europe).
Chlorates and perchlorates are difficult to measure in foods because they are ionic compounds with low molecular weights. They need to be detected at very low levels to ensure food safety outcomes and such measurement is made more problematic because there can be background chlorate contamination in laboratory environments.
A new paper explains a new method granted first action status by the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) which makes use of LC-MS/MS for testing for chlorates and perchlorates. It has a low limit of quantification in most food matrices and is fast and reliable.
Source: Rich, J (2023) Understanding the presence of chlorate and perchlorate in food: potential risk regulatory measures and analytical challenges. New Food Application Note Issue 4, 2023, pp 6,7
Further reading:
5 mini case studies: criminals at work
Last week’s industry news was full of crimes and questionable activities related to food safety and fraud. I have chosen five to share with you today. Many have been successfully prosecuted, and the perpetrators sentenced (great news!). One remains ‘under investigation’.
What the bad guys did
1) Obstructed a food crime investigation officer who was trying to conduct an unannounced audit
A production manager who delayed an unannounced inspection (‘visit’) by preventing an officer of the United Kingdom’s National Food Crime Unit from entering the premises has been prosecuted and fined more than £12,000.
2) Sold their employer’s poultry meat without authorisation, then destroyed the records
Two men were sentenced after last year pleading guilty to the theft of £300,000 worth of chicken from their employer, 2 Sisters Food Group (UK). The men, a dispatch manager and his colleague, dispatched 84 shipments of poultry to a second company that was not a legitimate customer of 2 Sisters and destroyed the records to cover up their actions.
The owner of the receiving company was convicted of acquiring criminal property. He claimed he did not know the “cut-price” chicken was stolen, but thought he was buying from a broker. Food traceability of the poultry products was compromised by the operations of the criminals.
3) Supplied ‘floor salmon’ and ‘self-dead’ fish
Employees of a Norwegian salmon company engaged in a systematic operation that they concealed from the company’s owners. The operation involved multiple sales of frozen salmon that was not fit for consumption to certain customers who were aware of the status of the products.
Around 20 customers, mostly in Eastern Europe were able, on request, to knowingly purchase frozen salmon that was self-dead, damaged, sexually mature or ‘floor fish’. Such sales and exports contravene the company’s policies and national regulations.
The irregularities were discovered during an internal investigation by the company’s board, which commissioned experts to assist with the investigation, and later recalled products and suspended employees.
4) Allegedly added lead chromate while processing cinnamon
A man or company in Ecuador, Carlos Aguilera, processed cinnamon sticks sourced from Sri Lanka into cinnamon powder and allegedly added material containing lead and chromium during the process, before supplying the cinnamon powder to another company, Negasmart, which sold it to an Ecuadorian food manufacturer.
The food manufacturer made millions of packages of apple-cinnamon purees and applesauce pouches for US brands which have been linked to hundreds of cases of lead poisoning in the USA.
The latest information from the US FDA on this case states that Ecuadorian officials tested the cinnamon sticks from Sri Lanka and found them to be free of lead. The US FDA found extremely high levels of lead and chromium in the powder produced by Carlos Aguilera, which suggests that Carlos Aguilera probably caused the adulteration. The processor is “not in operation at this time.”
5) Endangered allergic consumers by selling potentially contaminated takeaway food, after being warned of the risk by food safety officers
Two men have been prosecuted and fined over allergen contamination in takeaway food in the United Kingdom.
In 2022 food safety officers purchased a meal from an Indian takeaway store in the United Kingdom, saying they were allergic to peanuts and the meal must be free from peanuts. Upon testing, the meal was found to contain peanuts.
The business was then warned that peanut had been found in the food and told that this could have been deadly to an allergic consumer.
Two months later, the food safety officers returned to the business and bought another meal, again saying it was for a peanut-allergic consumer. They were served by the business owners, who said the meal did not contain peanuts. Testing revealed the second meal also contained peanuts in a quantity that was unsafe for someone with a peanut allergy.
The business owners were prosecuted and fined.
Sources:
FSA prosecutes production manager who obstructed an NFCU officer | Food Standards Agency
Norwegian firm found to have sold unfit-to-eat salmon | Food Safety News
Investigation of Elevated Lead & Chromium Levels: Cinnamon Applesauce Pouches | FDA
The Little Indian in Whitehaven fined for allergy 'negligence' | Whitehaven News
Takeaways: 🍏 While some food safety breaches and frauds go undetected, many are discovered 🍏 Individuals and companies are prosecuted, sentenced by the courts and fined significant sums 🍏 The business allegedly involved in lead contamination of cinnamon is “no longer in operation” 🍏
Food Safety News and Resources
Our news and resources section has not-boring food safety news plus links to free webinars and guidance documents: no ads, no sponsored content, only resources that I believe will be genuinely helpful for you.
This week’s highlight: a deadly nine-year Listeria outbreak solved!
Click the preview below to access it.
Reminder: The Rotten Apple Podcast is out now. Each episode is a 15 - 20 minute, low-fuss rendition of this email, read aloud by me.
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Below for paying subscribers: Food fraud news, horizon scanning and incident reports
📌 Food Fraud News 📌
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 A toolkit for food authenticity decisions (highly recommended);
📌 New rules for fraud prevention and honey origin labelling;
📌 Meat fraud case studies, sugar, orange juice warnings;
📌 Contaminated maize (corn) seeds.
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