The Directorate-General for Food and Veterinary (DGAV) warned today that batches of sesame seeds from India with “very high” levels of ethylene oxide have been identified, constituting a “serious risk” to health.
“They were identified in September 2020, and notified through the rapid alert system for food and animal feed […] very high levels of ethylene oxide with respect to certain batches of sesame seeds originating in or consigned in India and which entered the European Union ”, reads an alert from the DGAV.
The identified levels are a thousand times higher than the maximum applicable residue limit, thus constituting a “serious risk”, since ethylene oxide is classified as “category 1B mutagen, category 1B carcinogen and toxic for category 1B reproduction. ”.
In this sense, DGAV stressed that economic operators who carry out or have carried out self-control of sesame (sesame) consignments from India should send their results to [email protected] and [email protected].
Depending on the result, this directorate-general will indicate possible actions to be taken.
“In all non-compliant cases, they must be destroyed and cannot be used for dilution or transformation for human or animal food”, he pointed out.
In turn, importers “must take care” that the seeds they intend to import comply with the conditions set out in European regulations regarding the risk of contamination by pesticide residues.
Thus, they must be accompanied by an analytical bulletin and an official certificate attesting that the products have been subjected to sampling and analysis.
Consignments must be presented at border control posts.
DGAV is a central service of the direct administration of the State, with administrative autonomy.
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