On October 3, 2024, the Ministry of Health published the Report on the European RASFF alert systemor a Updated food recall report with 2023 data relating to member countries.
The RASFF, is a warning systemactive 24 hours a day, for the notification of a direct or indirect risk to human or animal health or the environment due to food or feed. Over the years, the notification system has also been extended to the risks linked to materials and objects intended to come into contact with food (MOCA) and feed for pets (pet food) and, today, it allows us to know which are the most dangerous products withdrawn from the marketrelated to food, feed, materials in contact with food and pet food.
Over 4,680 food risk reports, data from the Ministry of Health report
In 2023, the RASFF system recorded a significant increase in notifications transmitted, with a total of 4,683 “original notifications”, exceeding the 4,339 in 2022. According to the data from the Ministry of Health report, updated to 4 March 2024, 2023 marked an all-time high of reports in the system, confirming a growing trend regarding the supervision of food products and materials in contact with food (MOCA).
There most reports he covered human nutrition with 4,185 notificationsfollowed by feeding animal with 308 notificationsand finally i MOCA, who received 190 notifications.
In the comparison between 2021 and 2023, we observe an overall increase in notifications across all categoriesa sign of increasingly efficient and widespread supervision, with a focus on border controls and reports regarding potential risks to public health.
The 4,683 notifications generated in 2023 come from various sources control and reporting. Among these, the main ones include official control on the market (1,441 notifications), border controls with 1,518 seizures and independent checks of companies, with 994 reports. Other notification sources include consumer complaintsmedia monitoring and reporting of food poisoning incidents, demonstrating the variety of channels through which risks are detected.
Dangerous products withdrawn from the market, the situation in Italy
Germany was the country that sent the highest number of notifications in 2023, with 591 reports (12.6% of the total), followed by the Netherlands with 586 notifications (12.5%) and France with 422 notifications (9 %). Italy contributed with 415 reports (8.9%)confirming itself as one of the main players in ensuring food safety in Europe.
Among the most reported products from Italy, the following predominate:
- fish and fishery products (16.9%);
- nutsnut and seed products (11.6%);
- fruit and vegetables (11.3%).
These products are particularly vulnerable to risks related to microbiological and chemical contamination, due to their intrinsic characteristics and the production processes to which they are subjected.
Most of the products covered reporting in Italy comes from a few specific countries, such as: Spain, China, Türkiye, France, United States, and the remainder from India, the Netherlands, Pakistan and Iran. This geographic concentration highlights the need for more stringent controls in food supply chains, especially for products coming from areas with a high incidence of risk reporting.
Health hazards encountered
THE health risks detected in the notifications activated by Italy mainly focus on:
- pathogenic microorganisms (24.1%), such as bacteria, viruses, fungi and protozoa, which can cause disease in humans, animals or plants;
- mycotoxins (13.9%), toxic compounds produced by some fungi, in particular by molds belonging to the genera Aspergillus, Penicillium and Fusarium;
- heavy metals (11.3%), toxic to humans and animals even at low concentrations;
- pesticide residues (9.5%), chemicals used to control pests, diseases and unwanted vegetation in crops, which can remain in foods for various reasons and their presence represents potential risks to human health.
The reports are not limited to rejecting non-compliant products at the country’s borders, but also include the monitoring and control of products already on the marketthanks to periodic checks and official controls, strengthening consumer confidence in food safety.
In detail, as regards the non-conformities found in products of Italian originthe first ten categories are represented by:
- cereals and bakery products (equal to 13.7%);
- molluscs bivalves (equal to 9.8%);
- meat and meat products other than poultry (equal to 8.8%);
- fruit and vegetables (equal to 8.3%);
- milk and milk-based products (equal to 7.3%);
- other products o mixed products (equal to 6.3%);
- soupsbroths, sauces and condiments (equal to 4.4%);
- materials in contact with food (equal to 3.9%);
- fresh meat and poultry meat products (equal to 3.9%);
- ready meals and snacks (8, equal to 3.9%).
In these cases, the greatest number of irregularities is due to pathogenic microorganisms (equal to 31.6%), foreign bodies (equal to 12.1%), heavy metals (equal to 8.8%), allergens (equal to 7 .4%), mycotoxins (equal to 6.5%), migration phenomena (equal to 6%), pesticide residues (equal to 5.1%), new foods (equal to 3.7%), biocontaminants ( equal to 2.8%) composition (equal to 2.3%) and non-pathogenic microorganisms (equal to 2.3%).
Among microbiological contaminants, the largest number of notifications concerned Salmonella, Escherichia coli and Listeria.
When does the food product recall apply?
A food product recall applies when a food or feed product presents a potential or real risk for public health.
According to the report on food recalls published by the Ministry of Health, Italy is one of the European countries that has decided to use the iRASFF system also for management of non-compliance notifications that pose a risk to human or animal health detected in food, feed and food contact materials that remain within national borders both by origin and distribution of the products involved.
As regards the year 2023, 281 national notifications were entered into the system, of which 259 related to food (92.2%), 19 to feed (6.8%), 2 to another category of products (0.7 %) and 1 to materials in contact with food (0.4%). Most notifications come from official controls (182, equal to 64.8%)followed by self-checks by food sector operators (48, equal to 17.1%)give it consumer complaints (26, equal to 9.3%)from monitoring plans and surveillance (16, equal to 5.7%) and give them food poisoning (9, equal to 3.2%).
Most of the notifications created at the national level refer to dangers with serious risk (191, equal to 68% of the total) and potentially serious (36, equal to 12.8% of the total), followed by non-compliance with potential risk (25, equal to 8.9% of the total), not serious (24 , equal to 8.5% of the total) and undecided (5, equal to 1.8% of the total).
The Region that has entered the highest number of notifications into the system is Lombardy (48 notifications, equal to 17.3% of the total), followed by Lazio (46 notifications, equal to 16.5%) and from Veneto (40 notifications, equal to 14.4% of the total). In addition, 3 notifications were inserted following checks carried out by other authorities (UVAC and NAS).
