(RASFF) Annual Report 2009 - European Commission - Europa

Annual Report 2009
Dioxins
In 2009, there were 13 notifications on the presence of dioxins and dioxin-like
PCBs in feed and food.
Six notifications related to the presence of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in cod
liver of which 4 originated from Poland, 1 from Latvia and 1 from Lithuania.
One notification concerned the presence of high levels of dioxins and dioxinlike
PCBs in lamb liver. The presence of increased levels of dioxins and dioxinlike
PCBs in lamb and sheep liver appears to be a more general problem and
investigations are ongoing to identify the reasons for this.
Furthermore there were 3 findings of dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs in unusual
feed or food commodities: 1 in peanuts and sunflower seeds, 1 in the feed
additive sulphur and 1 in ground dried flowers of Tagetes erecta intended for
animal feed.
The other 3 notifications related to a finding of dioxins in bentonite clay, in a
feed premixture and in anglerfish liver.
Unauthorised genetically modified food and feed
In order to be authorised in food or feed, a new genetically modified (GM)
ingredient needs to pass through very strict and detailed authorisation
procedures. Sufficient proof needs to be given that the product does not pose
any risk to human health or the environment. Nonetheless,
unauthorised GM food or feed is sometimes discovered at
import or on the market. Usually it concerns only traces that
are present in a non-GM product that is imported into the EU.
The GM variety is often authorised in the producing country
but not in the EU.
The type of GM food or feed is characterised by the “GM event”,
a name given to a characteristic strand of “foreign” DNA that
was introduced in the genome of the plant. The table below
gives an overview of notifications by GM event.
As can be observed from the table, the number of RASFF notifications in GM
food and feed somewhat exploded in 2009. Of the notifications, 25 concerned
feed, the remaining 118 concerned food products. A large proportion of the
notifications in 2009 concerned the unauthorised linseed event FP967, first
detected in Europe in 2009, which appeared to be present in a substantial
number of shiploads imported into the EU.
The genetically modified linseed, called “Triffid”, had been authorised in
Canada in the late nineties, but was never commercialised. Its authorisation
was withdrawn in 2001 probably for fear of cross-contamination of the nonlinseed
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