Each answer starts with the short version, then the detail, with its sources and numbers computed from the data.
What is a RASFF notification?
A RASFF notification is a message one member of the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed sends to the others when it finds a risk in food, animal feed or a food contact material, so they can act quickly. The European Commission publishes a summary of each one in RASFF Window, without the names of the companies involved.
What is an EU border rejection?
A border rejection is a consignment of food, feed or a food contact material that an EU border control post refused to let in because of a risk, such as a mould toxin or a pesticide residue above the limit. The goods never reach the EU market, and the country that refused them tells the rest of the network through RASFF.
Alert, information and border rejection notifications: what is the difference?
An alert is about a serious risk in a product that may already be on sale in other EU countries and needs rapid action there. An information notification is about a risk that does not need rapid action elsewhere. A border rejection is about goods refused at the EU border, which never entered the market at all.
What does a serious risk decision mean in RASFF?
A serious risk decision means the authority found evidence that the finding can significantly affect consumers' health, whether at once or over time. It is the highest of the five ratings the network uses, and in this data 52% of notifications since 2020 carry it.
Why does the EU reject rice from Pakistan and India?
Mostly for pesticide residues above the EU limit, often for substances not approved in the EU, and for mould toxins such as aflatoxins and ochratoxin A. Since 2020, 171 of 308 notifications on rice from Pakistan and 165 of 220 from India named a pesticide residue; 110 and 40 named a mould toxin.
Why are spices rejected at EU borders?
Mostly for mould toxins such as aflatoxins and ochratoxin A, for pesticide residues above the EU limit, for Salmonella and, since 2020, for ethylene oxide. Since 2020 there have been 2,009 EU notifications on herbs and spices, and 44% of them were border rejections.
What is aflatoxin and what are the EU limits?
Aflatoxins are poisons made by Aspergillus moulds on crops such as groundnuts, tree nuts, dried figs, maize, rice and spices. The EU limit for groundnuts sold to consumers is 2.0 µg/kg for aflatoxin B1 and 4.0 µg/kg for the sum of four aflatoxins, set in Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2023/915; limits for other foods range up to 12 and 15 µg/kg.
What was the ethylene oxide problem?
In September 2020 EU countries found ethylene oxide, a substance not approved in the EU for plant protection, in sesame seeds from India at more than 1,000 times the 0.05 mg/kg limit. The EU tightened controls within weeks, and since 2020 1,235 EU notifications have named ethylene oxide, most of them on goods already inside the EU.
Which countries get the most EU food alerts?
Since 2020 the origins named most often in EU food and feed notifications were Türkiye (3,203), Poland (2,344), India (2,240), China (2,097) and Netherlands (1,832). These are counts, not rates: big exporters and big EU producers collect more notifications simply because they ship more.
What happens to goods rejected at the EU border?
The consignment is held under official detention and refused entry. The authority then orders the operator to destroy it, send it back out of the EU, or give it a special treatment that makes it compliant or puts it to another use, normally within 60 days and always at the operator's expense, under Articles 66 to 72 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625.
How can I check whether my product had an EU alert?
Search RASFF Window, the European Commission's public database, by product, hazard, country and date, or use this site's finder to filter every notification since 2020 by origin, product category, finding, year and type. You will find the notification, but never the company: the EU does not publish brands or business names.
Which hazards does the EU find most often in food?
Salmonella is named in more EU food and feed notifications than any other hazard: 5,140 since 2020, 16% of all. Next come aflatoxins (2,922), chlorpyrifos (1,586) and ethylene oxide (1,235). Grouped, bacteria, viruses and parasites lead, ahead of pesticide residues and mould toxins.