Food Standards Agency
Saturday 4 July 2009
Safer food better business banner
AZ-Directory
What's NewRSS
What is RSS?Listen
Listen to this siteFriday 15 March 2002
Category B: For Action
The European Commission alerted the FSA to the possibility that residues of nitrofurans, veterinary medicines that are not allowed to be used in food producing animals in the European Union, may be present in shrimps and prawns from South East Asia. As a result, the Food Standards Agency (Northern Ireland) (FSA NI) arranged a retail survey and the results are now available. Of the 77 samples obtained, 16 were found to be positive for nitrofuran residues, which include metabolites of furazolidone, furaltodone and nitrofurazone. Nitrofurans are mutagens (they damage genetic material) and there is concern that they are potentially carcinogenic in humans.
The samples were primarily obtained in a frozen packaged state, but some packages had been emptied for display purposes. The names of 13 samples that tested positive are reproduced in the attached Schedule 1. (Further information is being sought on the other 3 samples).
The Home Authorities for large retailers as listed overleaf have been contacted (see below) and the affected batches have been withdrawn from sale. However, some product has been sold to wholesalers and may be available for sale in smaller supermarkets and for use in catering establishments.
Back to topFood authorities should ensure that relevant local businesses have removed the product from sale and are not using the product in catering. It should not be necessary to contact the local branches of large retailers listed below.
Schedule 2 lists a number of businesses which may have received a particular batch and checks should be made to ascertain whether or not the batch was received and, if so, any remaining product should be withdrawn. The product in question is Ocean Pearl brand Tiger King Prawn Rings with a batch coding of BBE Mar 03 1259.
Local authorities are also asked to consider providing publicity to this issue locally, and for that purpose may wish to use the FSA’s news release as a guide as to what to say in any local news release. The accompanying Q&A may assist in answering questions from consumers, industry and other interested organisations.
The Home Authority for Safeway is LB Hillingdon. Contact: Louise Carr. Tel: 01895 250190.
The Home Authority for Tesco is Broxborne BC. Contact: Annabel Caine. Tel: 01992 785569.
The Home Authority for Lyons Seafoods is West Wiltshire DC. Contact: David Bardwell. Tel: 01225 770388.
The Home Authority for Iceland is Flintshire CC. Contact: Richard Powell. Tel: 01352 703198.
The Home Authority for “Ocean Pearl” is Birmingham CC. Contact: Nick Lowe. Tel: 0121 303 4111.
The Home Authority for the Co-op (CWS) is Manchester CC. Contact: Alec Grocott Tel: 0161 234 4926.
The Home Authority for Makro is the City of Salford. Contact: Mike Seager. Tel: 0161 793 2066.
The Home Authority for Sainsburys is the Corporation of London. Contact: James Smith. Tel: 0207 332 1817.
Should any more useful information come to light, we will, of course, advise authorities.
Back to topA Food Hazard Warning on Royal Jelly will be issued on Monday the 18th March 2002
The officer dealing with this hazard is: Rob Griffin. Tel: 020 7276 8443
ENQUIRIES ABOUT THE CONTENTS OF THIS FOOD HAZARD WARNING SHOULD BE MADE TO:- TEL: 020 7276 8448; FAX: 020 7276 8446
Food Standards Agency, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH
PLEASE NOTIFY US IMMEDIATELY OF CHANGES TO YOUR CONTACTS
Back to topDownload pdf
(pdf 10KB) (External) Get Adobe Acrobat reader You may need the free Acrobat Reader to view a pdfFind out what our other sites have to offer