FED: Record number of food recalls in last year

00-00-0000
FED: Record number of food recalls in last year

By Judy Skatssoon, National Medical Writer

SYDNEY, Dec 10 AAP - Glass fragments, choking hazards, biotoxin contamination, highlead levels and potentially cancer-causing chemicals prompted a record number of foodrecalls over the last year.

The good news about the increasing number of recalls, according to Australia's foodsafety regulator, was that suspect foods were not slipping through the net.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) today said 73 products were recalled inthe last financial year.

"This number sets a new record," FSANZ managing director Ian Lindenmayer said.

Almost half the products recalled (33) were imported, he said.

Mr Lindenmayer said a soy sauce scare involving the recall of 12 products boosted thenumber of recalls.

The soy sauce products were recalled after tests showed some of them contained excessivelevels of potentially cancer-causing chemicals known as chloropropanols.

Twenty-eight products were recalled because of concerns about contamination by bacterialike listeria and salmonella.

Other reasons for recalling products included labelling errors, for example failureto list an ingredient that could provoke an allergic reaction and failure to meet foodstandards code requirements, such as excessive colour or lead levels.

Mr Lindenmayer said rather than causing alarm, the increasing number of recalls shouldreassure consumers that the food industry was acting whenever the safety of a productwas in doubt.

Most of the recalls were precautionary, Mr Lindenmayer said.

"The increasing number of recalls reflects the greater awareness by food businessesof their obligations to act where there is any doubt about the safety of a product," hesaid.

FSANZ today launched an updated edition of the Food Industry Recall Protocol, whichsets out procedures for stopping the distribution and sale of unsafe food products andremoving products from the shelves.

The new protocol streamlines previous guidelines into two categories - trade recallsand consumer recalls.

AAP jjs/dl/sb

KEYWORD: RECALL (WITH FACTBOX)