{"id":544426,"date":"2026-08-27T01:23:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:23:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.phytocontrol.com\/uncategorized\/publication-of-the-2021-annual-rasff-report\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T01:23:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T23:23:40","slug":"publication-of-the-2021-annual-rasff-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.phytocontrol.com\/en\/regulatory-watch\/publication-of-the-2021-annual-rasff-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Publication of the 2021 annual RASFF report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/ec.europa.eu\/food\/system\/files\/2021-08\/rasff_pub_annual-report_2020.pdf\">2021 annual RASFF report<\/a> for food and feed products has just been published.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2021, <strong>4,607 notifications<\/strong> were submitted through the RASFF portal.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Of the 4,607 RASFF notifications submitted in 2021, 4,102 concerned foodstuffs, 236 concerned animal feed and 269 concerned food contact materials.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Compared to 2020, increases of 19.6% and 3.5% in the number of notifications were recorded for foodstuffs and animal feed respectively.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notifications on food contact materials doubled compared to the previous year, rising from 123 to 269.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pesticides:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In 2021, pesticide residues were the most notified hazard on the RASFF portal (27% of notifications) for the first time in its history: <strong>1,231<\/strong> notifications, a 61% increase compared to 2020 and a fourfold increase compared to 2019.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Contamination of food ingredients by ethylene oxide, which began with sesame seeds in 2020, continued and diversified in 2021. The contamination was reported 468 times. The substance was notably found in locust bean gum, which had been used as a food additive in a wide variety of products. This led to the largest food recall operation in EU history. Findings then spread to other types of gums, but also to food supplements, spices and various other products, albeit less frequently.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Besides ethylene oxide, chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, substances whose authorisation was not renewed in 2020, were a significant factor in this increase.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Pathogenic microorganisms:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With <strong>863<\/strong> notifications, pathogenic microorganisms remain a very important hazard category in food products, even though the total number of notifications on this topic has slightly decreased in recent years.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Three-quarters of the notifications submitted (641) were due to the presence of Salmonella. In nearly half of them (334), Salmonella was detected in poultry meat and poultry meat products, mainly of Polish origin (284). 145 notifications belonged to the herbs and spices category, of which 116 concerned Brazilian black pepper.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Listeria monocytogenes accounted for 16% of notifications related to pathogenic microorganisms in food. The most affected food categories are, as in the past, products of animal origin: milk and dairy products (45 notifications), meat and meat products, including poultry meat (37), and fish and fishery products (33).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">89 notifications were related to the detection of Escherichia coli, and in 48 cases they concerned the most dangerous type, shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli, found mainly in meat products other than poultry (33).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Norovirus was notified 16 times (compared to 50 in 2020): 13 notifications concerned bivalve molluscs, including 10 concerning oysters.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Mycotoxins<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The presence of mycotoxins in food was notified in <strong>450<\/strong> cases (a 6% increase compared to 2020 but a 23% decrease compared to 2019), representing the third most notified hazard category, as in previous years. Three-quarters of notifications were border rejections.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Most cases concerned the detection of aflatoxins (399), particularly in tree nuts (273). However, the most recurrent notification, as in 2020, concerned dried figs from Turkey (57). In other cases, notifications were mainly due to ochratoxin A (47), particularly in spices and dried figs.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Other hazard categories<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The other food hazard categories most frequently notified in 2021 were allergens (198 notifications), with sulphites (41 notifications), and food additives and flavourings (176 notifications) concerning excessive levels or a prohibited substance.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Animal feed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">RASFF notifications concerning animal feed accounted for around 5% of the total number of notifications.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The most common hazard is Salmonella (41%).<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other microbiological contamination concerned batches infested with mould (4.8%) and high levels of enterobacteria.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Food fraud<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Suspicions of illegal tuna treatments continued in 2021, as 39% of fraud notifications on fishery products concerned suspected illegal tuna treatment (carbon monoxide, nitrates and nitrites), additive abuse (ascorbic and citric acid) and labelling defects.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other fraud suspicions concerned the undeclared addition of water to pangasius fillets and frozen shrimp.<\/p>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Notifications on fats and oils decreased compared to previous years, with most still related to olive oil marketing standards and, more specifically, to olive oil or virgin olive oil sold as extra virgin olive oil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 2021 annual RASFF report for food and feed products has just been published. In&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":27979,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-544426","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulatory-watch"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v28.4 (Yoast SEO v28.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Publication of the 2021 annual RASFF report - Phytocontrol<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Publication of the 2021 annual RASFF report\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The 2021 annual RASFF report for food and feed products has just been published. 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