Safety body reveal dozens of food products pulled from shelves due to 'foreign objects'
Dozens of food products were pulled from the shelves of Irish supermarkets last year after the presence of foreign objects such as plastic, glass and insects were discovered.
This included the detection of small pieces of plastic in frozen sausage rolls and hash browns, undeclared alcohol in herbal tea, beetles in flour and, in one instance, concerns about ’’exploding’’ hot sauce.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) issued 55 food alerts in 2019. These were either in relation to product recalls or withdrawals from the Irish market for various reasons, including microbiological, chemical or foreign body contamination or mislabelling.
Examples varied from the presence of plastic in meat products, metal pieces in prepared dishes, the detection of arsenic above safe levels in bottled drinking water, foods found to contain insects, the detection of Listeria monocytogenes in various products such as poultry, dairy and fruit, undeclared alcohol in a non-alcoholic beverage, and the mislabelling of dietetic foods and food supplements.
FSAI issued a total of 107 food alerts and food allergen alerts in 2019.
— FoodSafetyAuthority (@FSAIinfo) March 5, 2020
See more in our press release: https://t.co/1CrbMzQJMN. #FoodAlert #AllergenAlert pic.twitter.com/jLvbai1uNw
In addition, the FSAI issued 52 food allergen alerts — up from 46 the previous year.
In the EU, there are 14 specified categories of allergens that must be labelled or declared. If this is not done correctly, it can lead to an alert being issued.
Last year, these alerts were issued in relation to the presence of undeclared milk, cereals, eggs and nuts in products.
Three in every 100 people in Ireland have a food allergy and the seriousness of these occurrences can result in the loss of life to an individual in its most extreme form. It can also result in consumers requiring urgent medical treatment due to severe allergic reactions if they eat food containing the allergen.
Dr Pamela Byrne, FSAI chief executive, said consumers should be able to trust that the food they are eating is labelled correctly and free from foreign objects and undeclared ingredients: "Last year, the FSAI issued on average two alerts each week about food products which were unsafe and subject to withdrawal or recall."
