193 | Myth-busting parasites | Fake butter | Cybercriminals attack another retailer |
Plus, more on melamine
Addendum
Fish parasites and the small changes that create new risks
Latest food cyberattack
Food Safety News and Resources
Lab-made butter
Food fraud news: horizon-scanning, recent incidents and a new addition.
Apology: Some of my favourite people were born between 1946 and 1964, which makes them members of the baby boomer generation. So when I reproduced a reader’s observation about the way a cell phone was being used in last week’s issue and used the word ‘boomer,’ please believe I had no intention to cause offence. Sorry!
Welcome to Issue 193 of The Rotten Apple. I’m Karen and I spend my days scouring the global food industry for news and information that will help you level up your food supply chain knowledge, do better at your job and become a thought leader in your field (without wasting your time on fluff and filler).
This week, I share an addendum to the melamine article from last week, provide a concise ‘need to know’ about the latest food industry cyberattack and describe two intriguing new foods.
The main story this week is about an emerging risk in seafood, one that not enough people are talking about. And, as always, there’s food fraud news at the end of the issue with a warning about vanillin, shocking results for tea and a new addition to the format.
Karen
P.S. An extra special huge welcome to 👏👏Malika, Craig, Patricia and Mary 👏👏 who upgraded their subscriptions last week, I’m thrilled to have your support in our community of food safety champions.
Addendum: Melamine adulteration
In Issue 192, I told you that the US refused imports for 261 foods on suspicion of melamine adulteration in 2024, with just 5 of those foods being subject to a public test. Here’s how the process works.
FDA import alerts describe which products and companies are subject to detention without physical examination (DWPE). These are refused entry unless the importer can demonstrate that the product is safe.
The import alerts for melamine have been in place for some years. Two of the alerts describe sampling and testing of foods initiated after the Chinese infant formula melamine scandal of 2008 and the pet food melamine scandal of 2007.
The alerts cover vegetable proteins from China, milk products and finished products containing milk from China, and general food products from China.
As well as listing product types, the import alerts list specific companies whose products may be detained. None of those companies manufactured any of the 261 foods that were detained in 2024.
Import alerts for melamine: Import alert 99-29 | Import alert 99-30 | Import alert 99-31
« Thank you, Steve Gendel, for the extra insights »
Myth-busting parasites: how small changes create unexpected food safety risks
This week I learned about a new food safety risk for freshwater fish in the US.
While it’s not a risk that many of us have to worry about, I wanted to share the story with you because it busts the myth that food safety hazards don’t change much over time.
Major foodborne pathogens like norovirus, Salmonella and Campylobacter are relatively predictable and the risks they pose are consistent year to year, so it’s easy for food safety professionals to become complacent.
We look at the food commodities in our portfolios or recipes and think we know every hazard like the backs of our hands.
Even the yearly lists of ‘emerging’ hazards, published by organisations like the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) can seem quite predictable and same-same. Yes, antimicrobial resistance is getting worse, yes, there’s more marine Vibrio in seafood due to warming seas, yes, mycotoxin contamination is increasing… the risks are growing but they were also forecast years ago.
The new hazard-risk combo I learned about last week isn’t something I’ve heard before, so it really caught my attention – again, not because its impact is widespread, but because it demonstrates how changing patterns of human behavior and changing environmental conditions can combine to create unexpected* new food safety risks.
The hazard is trematode worms (flukes) in freshwater game fish in the US. Their prevalence has increased in recent years, with 2 human-pathogenic fishborne trematodes (Haplorchis pumilio and Centrocestus formosanus) now becoming common in the US, where they were previously rare.
The trematodes, a type of flatworm (also known as a fluke), have complex life cycles with free-swimming stages and animal hosts, starting with freshwater snails, progressing to fish and then moving into mammals or birds that eat the infected fish.
Humans who ingest the adult trematodes, which are 1-2 mm long, become infected and experience abdominal and intestinal symptoms ranging from mild to fatal.
Globally, H. pumilio and C. formosanus are common in eastern Asia and the western Pacific and are recognized as important human pathogens in those regions.
Research published in The Journal of Infectious Diseases earlier this month describes both the presence of the trematodes in freshwater fish species commonly caught and eaten in Southern California and the prevalence of social media videos that promote fish preparation and consumption methods that would not kill the parasites.
The pathogenic trematodes were found in all seven fish species obtained by the researchers from popular freshwater fishing locations in Southern California. These fish species are found across the country.
The parasites infected a large proportion of the fish caught at each site, often at rates of hundreds or thousands of parasites per fish, making it highly likely that anyone fishing at these sites would capture an infected fish containing significant quantities of parasites.
The researchers also documented evidence of raw fish consumption for the target species by analysing 125 YouTube videos with 4.7 million combined views. Among those videos, 65% depicted the consumption of raw fish, mostly without a freezing step.
Fish known to host H. pumilio and/or C. formosanus featured in one quarter of the videos and more than half of those depicted the fish being consumed raw and unfrozen.
The videos contained misinformation about the safe consumption of raw fish, including the incorrect claim that marinating fish in citrus juice cooks the fish, rendering it safe to eat, and that healthy-looking fish and fish from clean water are free from parasites.
Cooking and freezing destroy the parasites, with more information about control methods available in the FDA’s Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance.
Takeaways
Beyond the immediate risks to people who catch freshwater fish and eat them raw in the United States, this situation shows how food safety issues can emerge unexpectedly when existing hazards become more prevalent and are combined with a change in the way foods are consumed.
The recent increased prevalence of human-pathogenic trematodes in edible freshwater fish in the US, combined with an increase in the number of US residents who eat fish raw creates risks that were barely imagined a decade ago.
Main source:
Palmer, E.M., Metz, D.C.G. and Hechinger, R.F. (2025). Further Evidence for Plausible Transmission of Fishborne Trematodiases in the United States: Game Fish Carry Human-Infectious Trematodes and Are Eaten Raw. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. [online] doi: https://doi.org/10.1093/infdis/jiaf180.
Latest food cyberattack: Whole Foods joins other victims Marks & Spencer and Harrods
One of the USA’s largest organic food distributors, United Natural Foods Inc. (UNFI), was the victim of a cyberattack, which led to some of its systems being offline, causing supply disruptions and bare shelves for its customer, the major US retailer Whole Foods, last week.
NBC News said the UNFI attack was one of a number of ransomware attacks perpetrated by a “notorious cybercriminal gang” on major retailers, including Marks & Spencer and Harrods in the United Kingdom.
A Whole Foods employee told NBC that UNFI was unable to properly receive orders from Whole Foods stores due to the attack.
None of the reported disruptions appear to have created food safety risks, although a spokesperson for a trucking company said the UNFI attack had left her company unable to deliver refrigerated foods to a dairy processor.
The attacks expose weaknesses in the affected companies’ IT systems and illustrate how cyberattacks can threaten other businesses within the same supply chain.
Source: Collier, K. (2025). Whole Foods sees shortages after United Natural Foods cyberattack. [online] NBC News. Available at: https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/security/whole-foods-sees-shortages-united-natural-foods-cyberattack-rcna212379.
Food Safety News and Resources
Our food safety news and resources roundups are carefully selected from around the globe.
This week: mystery hep A outbreaks in the UK, a warning about recycled plastics for food packaging, and more…
Click the preview box below to access it.
New Foods: Cultivated Salmon and Artificial Dairy Fat
Following the April approval of cultivated quail in Australia, cultivated salmon has been approved in the US this month. It’s the first cultured fish that’s been approved anywhere in the world. And - exciting! - it’s actually available to eat, at a restaurant in Portland!
Food writer,
of Technically Food sampled it on a bagel not too long ago and said she thinks “it’s best served as a component to a dish”, rather than as a standalone protein. Check out her recent post for a picture that shows it side by side with natural salmon (I could definitely spot the difference).Larissa also let me know about another novel food that is the first of its kind: butter analog made without animal or plant fats, but instead made by “Recreating the conditions found at deep-sea hydrothermal vents to produce carbon chains”, according to the manufacturer, Savor.
If you think that’s just a fancy way to say they synthesise fatty acid chains in a lab, I reckon you’re right. Or, as Savor puts it: “We take carbon from where it’s abundant — the atmosphere, the earth, and other emissions — and join it with hydrogen in the presence of a catalyst to create hydrocarbons, the foundation for fatty acids.”
Below for paying subscribers: Food fraud news, horizon scanning and incident reports
📌 Food Fraud News 📌
In this week’s food fraud news:
📌 Warning for vanillin;
📌 Cranberry sauce saga continues;
📌 Methods for wine and bread authentication;
📌 Incidents affecting oranges, fish roe, cocoa beans, protein supplements, tea and more…
Introducing: 🔹incident reports powered by iComplai🔹
Starting today, I’ll be publishing food fraud incident reports discovered using the powerful capabilities of iComplai’s platform, in addition to those obtained using my well-established protocols.
iComplai is an AI-powered food safety intelligence platform that helps companies detect potential risks, monitor their supply chains, and optimize food safety protocols through advanced analytics and real-time data.
Here’s an incident I discovered using the iComplai Weekly News Food Fraud dataset
Oranges from Egypt (2 tons), mislabelled as (Italian) Sicilian red Tarocco, were seized by law enforcement agencies from roadside service area stores where they were being sold to unsuspecting travellers. The stores were reported for commercial fraud and fined more than EUR7,000 – Italy 10/06/2025
Cranberry sauce saga continues
Back in 2023, I reported on the