Food safety recall round-up 22 December - 5 January 2017
Histamine in anchovy paste
New Zealand: Mediterranean Food Company is recalling its L’ Isola D’Oro Conserve Ittiche brand La Pasta di Acciughe (anchovy paste) because it contains an elevated level of histamine.
The anchovy paste has best before 11 07 2017 and is sold as a tube in a 60g cardboard box. There have been no reports of illness.
It is made by Flott and imported from Italy and has been sold in Mediterranean Food Company retail outlets in Christchurch (322 Tuam Street) and Rangiora (7/188 High Street).
The Centre for Food Safety (CFS) in Hong Kong also issued a warning about the product which was imported by Lorence & Company.
"The CFS received a notification from the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed of the European Commission that a batch of anchovy paste manufactured in Italy was suspected to contain histamine at a level which does not comply with the country’s standard and the affected batch of product is being recalled. According to the information provided by the RASFF, some of the affected product has been imported into Hong Kong," said a spokesman.
A total of 25 cartons had been imported into Hong Kong and had been distributed to local retailers.
The spokesman said histamine is commonly found in fish of the Scombridae family, as a result of bacterial spoilage.
Symptoms include tingling and burning sensation around the mouth, facial flushing and sweating, nausea, vomiting, headache, palpitations, dizziness and rash. Onset is within a few hours and normally disappears in 12 hours without long term effect.