THE RAPID ALERT SYSTEM FOR FOOD AND FEED (RASFF), Annual Report 2006

The legal basis of the RASFF is Regulation (EC) No 178/2002. Article 50 of this Regulation establishes the rapid alert system for food and feed as a network involving the Member States, the Commission and the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). Also the EEA countries: Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland, are longstanding members of the RASFF.Whenever a member of the network has any information relating to the existence of a serious direct or indirect risk to human health, this information is immediately notified to the Commission under the RASFF. The Commission immediately transmits this information to the members of the network.

	ALERT NOTIFICATIONS Alert notifications are sent when the food or feed presenting the risk is on the market and when rapid action is required. The notification aims at giving all the members of the network the information to verify whether the concerned product is on their market, so that they also can take the necessary measures.
	INFORMATION NOTIFICATIONS Information notifications concern a food or feed for which a risk has been identified, but for which the other members of the network do not have to take rapid action, because the product has not reached their market.
	NEWS NOTIFICATIONS Any type of information related to the safety of food or feed which has not been communicated by a Member State as an "alert" or an "information" notification, but which is judged interesting for the food/feed control authorities in the Member States, is classified and made available as a news notification.

The number of notifications since 2000 is given in Table 1

* Additional information notifications that are reactions from RASFF members reporting follow-up of an original notification.

Figure 1 shows the distribution of the RASFF notifications in 2006.

Figure 1. Distribution of the RASFF notifications in 2006

RASFF NOTIFICATIONS IN 2006
The number of notifications transmitted through the RASFF rose from 698 in 1999, 823 in 2000, 1567 in 2001, 3024 in 2002, 4414 in 2003, 5562 in 2004 to 7170 in 2005. In 2006 for the first time since the system is in operation the number of notifications showed a decrease to 6840. The reason for this decrease lies with the reduced number of notifications for microbiological contamination and for the use of illegal dyes.

2006 notifications according to type of control are given in Figure 2.

Figure2. 2006 notifications according to type of control

MYCOTOXINS
Mycotoxins are naturally occurring metabolites produced by certain species of moulds (e.g. Aspergillus spp, Fusarium spp) which develop at high temperatures and humidity levels and may be present in a large number of foods. This group of toxins includes a number of compounds of varying toxicity and frequency in food. Mycotoxins like aflatoxins and ochratoxin A are known to be carcinogenic.

Mycotoxin notifications in 2006 are shown in Table 2.

Aflatoxins
In general, As in previous years, also in 2006 mycotoxins are the hazard category with the highest number of notifications. The RASFF received in 2006 a total of 874 notifications on mycotoxins, of which 802 concerned aflatoxins.

RASSF 2006 report has a spesific article for the mycotoxin alert and notifications from Turkey. Aflatoxin notifications from Turkey have showed a substantial increase comparing to previous years. The number of notifications in 2004, 2005 and 2006 are 83, 118 and 163, respectively. In summary, the number of notifications in 2004 has doubled in 2006.

Other mycotoxins
In general, 77 notifications concerned mycotoxins other than aflatoxins (in 5 notifications,high levels of aflatoxins and ochratoxin). The large majority of notifications concern ochratoxin A (54) and to a much lesser extent fumonisins (15)  and patulin in 2006, (7).

Ochratoxin A notifications concerned mainly dried vine fruit (22), cereals and cereal products (11), green coffee (6), instant coffee (5), dried figs (5), spices (4) and one sample of roasted coffee. In particular the 15 notifications on dried vine fruit originating from Uzbekistan are a reason for concern and will require a close follow-up in 2007.   

Fumonisin, 9 notifications concerned maize products    originating from Italy. 4 notifications on patulin concerned concentrated apple juice originating from Iran.

Commission Decision 2006/504/EC of 12 July 2006 on special conditions governing certain foodstuffs imported from certain third countries due to contamination risks of those products by aflatoxins

This Decision merges the special conditions for imports of certain foodstuffs from Egypt China, Turkey, Brazil and Iran covered respectively by Decisions 2000/49/EC, 2002/79/EC, 2002/80/EC, 2003/493/EC and 2005/85/EC. Changes include the extension of the scope to processed and compound foodstuffs and reduction of the frequency of controls for hazelnuts originating from Turkey.

DIOXINS
In 2006, 17 notifications concerned dioxins of which 10 are feed and 7 are food related. The 7 notifications on dioxins in food mainly related to the presence at unacceptable levels of dioxins in fish oil supplements (5). One notification related to significant levels of dioxins in canned cod liver in oil and one involving poultry meat originating from Portugal. In 2006, new legislation has come into force setting new maximum levels for the sum of dioxins, furans and dioxin like PCBs in feed and food.

POLYCYCLIC AROMATIC HYDROCARBONS (PAH) IN FISHERY PRODUCTS
Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons are a group of diverse organic compounds which are potentially genotoxic and carcinogenic. They enter food via the environment (e.g. combustion processes or contaminated waters) or are formed as a result of certain food preparation methods, such as grilling, roasting and smoking.
In 2006 the number of notifications of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in fishery products above the maximum level rose to 40. This is significantly more than in previous years (5 notifications in 2005, 4 in 2004, 12 in 2003)

MERCURY IN FISHERY PRODUCTS
In 2006 the notifications for mercury above the legal limit in fish increased to 71, compared to 46 in 2005 and 45 in 2004. Swordfish was the fish species with the highest number of notifications (36) followed by shark (17 notifications) and tuna (7 notifications).

According to Commission Regulation No 466/2001, a maximum level of 0.5 mg/kg mercury applies to fishery products. For certain species (e.g. some large predatory fish such as swordfish, shark, tuna) a higher maximum level of 1.0 mg/kg applies. For processed fish (e.g. smoked, dried or canned fish), the mercury level must be recalculated for the fresh fish to be compared with the legal limit

RESIDUES OF VETERINARY MEDICINAL PRODUCTS AND FEED ADDITIVES

Fishery products, 80 RASFF notifications in 2006 compared to 104 in 2005 shows a decrease in the total number of notifications on fishery products.

Chloramphenicol, is an antibiotic banned in the EU for food safety reasons. The number of notifications for chloramphenicol has increased from 2 in 2005 to 5 in 2006

Malachite green notifications and its main metabolite leucomalachite green in fish has decreased from 50 to 17.
Crystal violet notifications increased to 5 when compared to 2 notifications in 2005. 

Nitrofuran metabolites, sulphonamides,other residues, only 1 notification was issued in 2006 for nitrofuran metabolites (in Argentinean honey) compared to 8 in 2005; 8 for sulphonamides in 2006 (1 for Russian, 2 for Ukrainian and 3 for Turkish honey, plus 2 for Chinese royal jelly) compared to 18 in 2005. Additionaly the presence of residues of the antibiotics trimethoprim (honey from Russia), tylosin (honey from Argentina) and tetracycline (honey from China) were the origin of three RASFF notifications.

Eggs, 4 RASFF notifications were issued for the coccidiostats nicarbazin (3) and salinomycin (1).

Meat, 2 RASFF notifications for chloramphenicol and 1 for nitrofuran metabolites and 1 for tetracycline

Poultry, 2 RASFF notifications for the banned feed additive nicarbazin and 1 for ronidazol, as well as for chloramphenicol were issued. No RASFF notifications were issued for nitrofuran metabolites in poultry in 2006

Feed, during 2006 the presence of residues of hormones dexamethasone, medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) and prednisolone were detected in feed originated from the Slovakia.

Feed Additives, 10 RASFF notifications were issued for the presence of unauthorised feed additives monensin, chromium yeast,                   colistin, flavophospholipol, organic selenium oxytetracycline, salinomycin and superoxide dismutase.

ILLEGAL USE OF DYES IN SPICES
According to the data collected through the RASFF, a sharp decrease in numbers of notifications about the fraudulent use of dyes in food has been observed since 2003, i.e. respectively 390 notifications in the period 2003-2004, 213 notifications in 2005 and 60 in 2006. 
In the period 2003-2004, most cases of adulteration with illegal dyes identified India as the country of origin of the chilli or curry powder, followed by Turkey. In 2005, notification levels dropped considerably for these countries, while the Russian Federation emerged as another source of adulterated spices. While in 2006, notification numbers continued to decrease in general and in particular for India, they were maintained for the Russian Federation and for Turkey. Data for Turkey show Turkey exporting only a fraction of the total import of spices in the EU. This can possibly be explained from the type of product notified: for the Russian Federation and for Turkey it usually concerns packaged spice mixtures to be added to specific meat products or dishes.

Different patterns of illegal dyes used appear when classifying the notifications according to the origin of the product. Spices from the region of India and Pakistan usually show a contamination with either Sudan I or Sudan IV or a combination of both. With spices from Turkey, the same pattern appears, but more often a combination of both dyes is found and at higher levels. Taking into account that Turkey is not a big producer of spices, this could lead to the supposition that Turkey is a trading hub for spices from the East. As such older stocks in Turkey with higher contamination levels are still present. The mixing of different spices would lead to a more frequent detection of combinations of illegal dyes. In some notifications, EU Member States were identified as the origin of the product, in absence of traceability information tracing back to where the spice was imported from.

Figure3. Notifications on illegal dyes by country of origin

FOOD ADDITIVES 
Notifications relating to high levels of sulphites have continued in 2006 (80 notifications compared to 101 in 2005), a number of which relate to high levels in crustaceans (45 in 2006, 63 in 2005) although the number of notifications has reduced since previous years as a result of changes in the legislation brought about by the adoption of European Parliament and Council Directive 2006/52/EC.

In Figure 4 food additives notifications of 2006 are given.

Figure4. Notifications on food additives (2006)

• PAA/nylon
  Rapid alerts on primary aromatic amines (PAA) relate to the migration from kitchen utensils made of nylon imported from China. The number of notifications (30) has kept constant in comparison to 2005.
• Lead, cadmium, ceramic ware
  Directive 84/500/EEC lays down migration limits for leadand cadmium from ceramic ware into 4 % acetic acid. Notifications on non compliance with migration limits for lead and cadmium have slightly decreased in 2006 (15) compared to 2005 (21).
• Heavy metals/ Metal ware
  The number of notifications has maintained at the same level (36) compared to 2005 (37).
• ITX (isopropylthioxanthone)
  Industry committed to cease the use of ITX in packagingfor all baby milk as from the end of September 2005, for fatty products by the end of December 2005 and for other concerned products by the end of January 2006.In the first half of 2006 notifications on ITX were still received but decreased significantly in the second half of 2006.
• GMP
  To avoid similar contamination incidents, the Commission adopted Regulation (EC) No 2023/2006 on good manufacturing practice for materials and articles intended to come into contact with food. The Regulation is laying down general rules on quality assurance, quality control and documentation. It is setting down specific rules for printing and handling of non-food contact surfaces. The Regulation will apply from 1 August 2008.
• Food supplements
  The number of RASFF notifications reporting on food supplements and dietetic foods has increased in the last three years (21 in 2004, 54 in 2005 and 91 in 2006).
• Genetically modified rice
  With a total of 127 notifications in 2006, the issue of the presence of unauthorized genetically modified food is back on the food safety agenda in the EU. 126 of these notifications refer to genetically modified rice.
• Feed

Distribution of 129 notifications concerned feed in 2006 is given in Figure 5.



Figure 5. Feed notifications in 2006.

NEW COMMUNITY LEGISLATION AFFECTING THE RASFF
2006 marks a significant milestone for food safety in the EU, with the entry into application of a large updated body of food and feed legislation. The Food "Hygiene Package", the Regulation on microbiological criteria for foodstuffs, the Regulation on official feed and food controls, and the Feed Hygiene Regulation, constitute a complementary set of rules to tighten and harmonize EU food safety measures. These laws will apply at every point in the food chain, in line with the EU's "farm to fork" approach. A key aspect of the new legislation is that all food and feed operators, from farmers and processors to retailers and caterers, will have primary responsibility for ensuring that food put on the EU market meets the required safety standards.

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