From salad spreads, cordon bleu and stew to cooked ham and cream cheese: the list of products that supermarkets had to recall from the shelves by order of the Belgian food watchdog FASFC was in August and September. remarkably long. It contained too much of the plant protection product ethylene oxide, a pesticide that can cause cancer. Too much of the product has been found in European food for a year now.
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Food company Meat&More, in consultation with the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FAVV), is recalling chicken andalouse and tuna salad today, also due to the presence of residues of crop protection products (ethylene oxide). Both products were distributed in the Bon’Ap and Buurtslagers branches.
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Long laundry list
More than a week ago, supermarkets also had to withdraw a long list of products from the market because of traces of ethylene oxide. Delhaize withdrew poultry fondue, cordon bleu, orloff roast, chicken cordon bleu, wraps and fusilli from the market. Jumbo also withdrew cordon bleu from the market. Meat products De Keyser had to recall culinary cooked ham (distributed at Cora) and defatted cooked ham and cooked ham baguette special (Makro). Finally, the Gourmet Greens meal salad with goat cheese was also withdrawn from the market.
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In recent days, the spreads from Delicio, the cordon bleu from Lidl, stew from the Jermayo brand and the cordon bleu from Intermarché have also been added. In the past year, supermarkets in our country recalled at least 200 products, various media reported. Is there a new food crisis in the making? Or should we not panic yet?
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Against fungi and salmonella
The big forest doer is therefore ethylene oxide, a substance that is banned in Europe, but is used in other countries to repel fungi or salmonella. If it is found in products here, they should be taken off the shelves. There is no immediate danger to those who eat it, but if you consume products containing ethylene oxide in large amounts every day for years, there is a possible health risk.
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Before the summer, ethylene oxide was also found in pepper, ginger and turmeric. The ice creams from Mars and Ola also disappeared from the shelves as a result, as did Heks’nkaas, one of the typical Dutch products that Albert Heijn sells. It all started in the summer of last year when an Italian food company discovered that its products were contaminated with ethylene oxide. The sesame in the products came from India and was processed in Belgium. The seed was processed by various food companies and spread all over Europe.
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Strict European rules
The general public does not seem to be alarmed by the recalls yet, but the companies are. “On average, we have to take about 15 products off the shelves at Delhaize a year, but this year there are already 50,” said spokesman Roel Dekelver at VRT NWS last week. Fevia, the federation of the Belgian food industry, and the trade federation Comeos, on the other hand, have reservations about the massive recalls and ask for a review of the strict European rules. The Belgian government is also said to have asked the European Commission to be less likely to recall products.
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