This past month has seen the Food Standards Agency report seven instances of food being recalled as a result of undeclared allergens.
Undeclared milk was the cause of the most allergen-based recall alerts (4), with discount supermarket Lidl, Premier Foods, Booker Group and Grape Tree removing products from sale as a result. This was followed by two recalls alerts caused by undeclared gluten from Tesco and Warp Snacks, and two instances of undeclared soya from Yaadgaar and Fito Nature Boutique.
A full breakdown of all the recalls can be found in the table below.
Foreign contaminants
Allergens weren’t the only cause of food recalls over the past month – manufacturing errors have also forced some products to be removed from sale.
Ramona’s has recalled Ramona’s Heavenly Original Houmous because it may contain pieces of plastic, presenting a potential choking hazard and therefore unsafe to eat.
The manufacturer said the contamination was only found in one batch of the product – 500g with the use-by date of 28 July 2023 – and urged customers who may have bought the affected houmous to return it to the store they bought it from for a full refund.
A labelling error led to the recall of Ossa’s Organic Chicken Bone, Beef Bone and Vegetable broths when it was discovered the products had been shipped out with the incorrect use-by date on the packaging.
Incorrect labels
The three products – all 500g pack size – carried a use-by date of 5 November 2023, which was past the actual date for which the products would still be safe to eat. The recall applied to Chicken Bone broth with the batch code 2204, Beef Broth with the batch code 2203 and Vegetable broth with the batch code 2114.
Finally, Waitrose is recalling Waitrose Extra Large King Prawns, (Ready to Eat) because they contain raw, uncooked prawns.
The recalled included all 220g packs of the prawns with the use-by date of 14 June 2024. Like with all of the above products, consumers were advised to not eat the affected prawns and instead return them to the store they were purchased from to receive a full refund.
Meanwhile, with food recalls making headlines more often than not, Alison Friel, director of food consulting and training at NSF, takes a look at how you can safeguard against this growing threat.
