(RASFF) Annual Report 2009 - European Commission - Europa

The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF)
Case No 2 concerns a news notification based on a press release by the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on an outbreak in the US linked to the
consumption of peanut butter. It turned out that a major peanuts producer in
the US had a serious problem with Salmonella contamination. With information
obtained from FDA, notifications followed on diverse products containing
potentially contaminated peanuts (cases 3 and 5–10).
Case 12 concerns the presence of nimesulide, an anti-inflammatory drug, in a
food supplement. Nimesulide had previously been withdrawn as medicine for
its known toxicity to the liver. Serious cases of liver damage occurred, some
with fatal consequences. Apart from in Sweden, the supplement had also been
distributed to five other member countries and was immediately withdrawn
from the market and press releases were issued to warn consumers.
Cases 14, 21, 22, 37, 38 and 52 all are related to the presence of norovirus. Only
case 14 concerns oysters; in all five other cases frozen raspberries from Poland
and from Serbia were involved. Also in previous years, frozen raspberries were
reported as a cause for large outbreaks.
In relation to case 17, two children were reported in Spain with mouth lesions
as a consequence of consuming a roll-on liquid candy with a very high acidity.
The FDA published on 1 May 2009 a warning on their website, urging
consumers to discontinue the use of Hydroxycut food supplement products
immediately due to suspicions of serious liver injuries. Hydroxycut products
are suspected of having caused liver damage to several patients in Finland,
reported in case 18.
Case 19 reported on an unusual foodborne outbreak in Norway caused by
sugar peas from Kenya (also called snow peas) contaminated with Shigella
sonnei. These bacteria can cause serious dysentery but are killed if food is
thoroughly cooked. Faecal contamination due to bad hygienic practice usually
lies at the basis of the problem. More detailed information was published in
the Eurosurveillance journal 16 .
In the course of the summer, Denmark and especially Italy reported cases
of histamine poisoning (scombroid fish poisoning) after consuming tuna
(cases 23–27, 32, 35, 36, 46 and 51). High levels of histamine (>200 ppm)
will be formed in the fish if not properly chilled and stored for too long at
an unsuitable temperature. Thorough cooking of the fish will not solve the
problem as histamine is heat-resistant. Histamine can also occur in other types
of fish (e. g. case 39 and 53).
In case 31, consumers reported experiencing a bitter taste or loss of taste after
having consumed pine seeds. What is unusual and has not been explained
16 http://www.eurosurveillance.org/ViewArticle.aspx?ArticleId=19243
39