Romanian food safety agency has had eight recalls of salmon products already this year from three of the country’s largest stores.
The National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) has commissioned enhanced controls following recalls of salmon products recalls, reports foodsafetynews.
ANSVSA has not reported any related illnesses. But the publication reported that samples were taken from different batches of finished items and from areas of production and packaging of finished products with processed samples sent to laboratories for analysis. Results showed the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in smoked salmon fillet finished product samples from two units from Ocean Fish SRL and Negro 2000 SRL.
Health inspection teams went to the sites and ordered the suspension of the smoked salmon fillet production lines. They detained 134 kilograms of products and imposed sanctions totalling 42,000 Romanian Leu ($10,000 U.S.).
Eight recalls have been issued since the start of 2019 for listeria in salmon involving retailers Auchan, Kaufland and Carrefour.
Products from Ocean Fish SRL include:
- Sliced smoked salmon Norway, 100 g, lot 22032019, expiration date 22.03.2019
- Sliced smoked salmon Kids 50 g, lot 16032019, expiration date 16.03.2019
- Sliced smoked salmon Blue shark, 100 g, lot 08032019, expiration date 08.03.2019
- Sliced smoked salmon Kids, 50 g, lot lot 16032019, expiration date 16.03.2019
Negro 2000 SRL recalled its smoked salmon 140-gram packages with lot 51 C expiration Feb.4 from Carrefour Romania.
Negro 2000 general manager Floricica Vlad told Hotnews: “We want to reassure our customers and our partners that this situation is an isolated incident and that these measures have been ordered because the safety of the final consumer and the Negro 2000 customers is a priority for our company.”
Rareş Popa, quality director at Ocean Fish told Stirileprotv that: “Our own tests have showed that listeria was not present on our own factory machinery, but only in products imported from farms in the Faroe Islands. But not in quantities that are dangerous to people.”