The Food Standards Agency took action on 15 March to ensure a full recall from sale of a batch of James White Fresh Dry Bramley Apple Juice. The Agency is advising consumers not to drink it and caterers not to use it. This action follows the finding during a routine food survey of unacceptably high levels of a naturally occurring chemical, patulin, in a sample of this particular product. This chemical, produced by some moulds that grow naturally on fruits, particularly apples, can affect the developing foetus and cause neurological and immunological effects in animals. Therefore it is important to keep human exposure to this chemical as low as is practically possible.
The juice is packed in 75cl glass bottles with a best-before date of September 2003 and the batch code is SEP03D.
This particular juice was not on sale in high street supermarkets and was only available from approximately 160 outlets around the country. Most of these were farm shops, garden centres and plant nurseries. Full details of outlets are available on the FSA website wwwfood.gov.uk or you could contact the FSA at Room 245, Aviation House, 125 Kingsway, London WC2B 6NH Telephone 020 7276 8888
Steve Wearne, Head of Chemical Contaminants at the Food Standards Agency said: "Our regular survey work picked up this problem. Whilst there has been action to withdraw the product from sale, that may not have been comprehensive, and consumers may still have some in the cupboard at home. The Agency's advice is that this particular juice should not be drunk. Consumers should throw it away or return it to where they bought it."
The Agency issued a Food Hazard Warning asking local enforcement officers to check that these products have been removed from sale.
The Food Standards Agency has been informed by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, DEFRA, that meat from the offspring of two cows with BSE has reached the human food chain. Offspring of BSE affected cattle are not allowed to enter the food chain as part of the BSE control measures.
The Agency is concerned about continuing breaches of these controls. These are the second and third such cases this year, following the disclosure on 14 January 2002 of the 29-month old offspring of a cow with BSE having been slaughtered in an abattoir in Wales.
However, the likelihood that the animals had BSE is low. The parts of an animal most likely to contain BSE infectivity are removed at the abattoir, as was the case with these animals.
One animal, aged 15 months, was slaughtered in December 2001 and put into the food chain. None of the meat is now left. The other, aged 26 months, was slaughtered in January and some of the meat has entered the food chain. The Agency has asked DEFRA for the remainder of the meat to be seized and destroyed.
The Agency's review of BSE controls in December 2000 emphasised the uncertainty surrounding the transmission of BSE and said: "Knowledge about its (BSE) routes of transmission within the cattle population is incomplete". There have been estimates that maternal transmission could occur in up to 10% of pregnancies, although that is under review and may be revised downwards.
The Food Standards Agency has been notified by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD) of a single case of BSE in a cow aged 31 months. The animal has been destroyed and no meat entered the human food chain. Investigations into how the animal became infected, including the possibility of maternal transmission, are continuing.
This is the UK's 10th BSE case born after August 1996. It is the third such case in Northern Ireland.
The appearance of cases of BSE in cattle born after August 1996 when the comprehensive ban on feed contaminated with meat and bone meal became fully effective was predicted by epidemiologists.
The Agency said that as this BSE case was detected and not allowed to enter the food chain there is no food safety risk from this animal. All such cases will be considered with other evidence when the Over 30 Month Rule, a further BSE control, is reviewed by the FSA later this year.
The fact that blended honey suddenly disappeared from the shelves of shops and supermarkets in February received wide publicity. The reason was that the FSA had received the results of tests on batches of Chinese and blended honey on sale in the UK. The Agency began these tests because of concerns about a lack of control on the use of veterinary drugs in China. Seven out of 15 samples tested positive for an illegal residue of a veterinary medicine, streptomycin.
This does not give rise to a food safety concern and the public can continue to consume honey already bought. Nevertheless honey cannot legally contain streptomycin (which is also a human antibiotic). The Agency has advised the relevant companies of the test results and they have co-operated fully in the withdrawal of the affected products.
The Agency began testing honey and other relevant Chinese products on sale in the UK prior to the European Union's formal decision to suspend imports of products of animal origin from China at the end of January. A European Commission inspection visit had expressed concern about the lack of controls on the use of veterinary drugs in animals in China and imports of animal products have now been suspended.
The Agency is carrying out further tests on honey and other animal products from China and will issue further public advice if necessary.
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