Salmonella and metal contamination lead food recalls

Wholefoods wholesaler and distributor Suma has recalled various batches of its organic sesame seeds and organic omega mix, due to the presence of salmonella in the sesame seeds found in these products.

Similarly, organic food and ingredient supplier Abel and Cole announced a recall of its organic sesame seed and organic omega mixes due to salmonella contaminated sesame seeds. So far, no link has been established between the two recalls.

Traces of metal in ice cream led Unilever to recall batches of its Ben & Jerry’s products, while Sainsbury, Waitrose and Lidl have launched recalls of their products due to undeclared allergens.

Unilever launched a precautionary recall of its Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough ice cream, after it found that some of the product might contain small pieces of metal. Four batches of the ice cream were being recalled.

“The company has identified a specific production period during which Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough 500ml may have been affected,” said a Unilever spokesman.

‘Safety remains a top priority’

“As safety remains a top priority, Ben & Jerry’s is voluntarily recalling four batch codes of Cookie Dough 500ml from sale.

“As a precaution, everyone with a 500ml tub of Ben & Jerry’s Cookie Dough in their freezers at home should check the batch number on the bottom of their tub to make sure it’s not affected.

The batch codes affected were L62110L011, L62111L011, L62112L011 and L62113L011.

“If it matches the batch numbers listed, they should not eat the product and, instead, we ask them to discard the product in the usual household bin.”

Retailer Sainsbury has recalled its 200g bars of raisin milk chocolate due to unreported allergens.

Bars with a best before date of June 28 2017 were recalled because they contain hazelnut and almond which are not declared on the label.

Not declared on the label

Waitrose recalled its 150g packs of orange and milk chocolate cookies for similar reasons, after it found packs also contained hazelnut which was not declared on the label.

The recall affected products with a best before date of March 30 2017.

Discount retailer Lidl recalled a batch of its Alesto roasted and salted peanuts with a best before date of January 2017 from its Ireland stores, because the label was not in English.

The retailer has faced similar problems earlier this year, after it recalled three products – Bavarian style smoked cheese with ham, bread baking mix and milk chocolate with hazelnuts – for not having allergy information in English on their packaging.

Undeclared allergens were also the reason why Asda recalled its egg salad sandwich last month.

The sandwiches – which had a use by date of August 29 2016 – did not mention they contained milk as an allergen on the packaging.