Agency calls for pistachio import ban

The offending products have been removed from sale and the FSA wants the European Commission to consider re-instating a 1997 ban on Iranian pistachios.

The Agency has also warned two peanut butter retailers that levels of mycotoxins found in some of their products were too high - although not an immediate threat to health.

The FSA says extra vigilance is needed to ensure levels of mycotoxins in peanut butter are kept below the regulatory limit.

Pistachio products with high levels of mycotoxins in the most recent survey have been removed from sale. In the vast majority of all the samples however the levels found were low.

The consumption of a very small amount of a mycotoxin on a single occasion is unlikely to cause any ill effects.

The Agency is therefore re-stating its advice to consumers and there is no need for anyone to avoid eating these products.

The survey, and a follow-up survey, of nuts, nut products and dried tree fruit looked at 227 product samples and was most concerned with assessing levels of a number of mycotoxins including the most toxic, Aflatoxin B1.

The pistachios found with levels of B1 over the regulatory limit in the follow-up survey were Balham Wholefoods raw pistachios, Natco Pistachio Kernels, and Rainbow Wholefoods Roasted and Salted Pistachios.

The Agency requested that the affected pistachios were withdrawn and recalled. The European Commission (EC) issued Rapid Alert warnings across the EU.

Despite a temporary suspension of Iranian imports in 1997 and a more rigorous testing regime, all of the samples over the limits in the survey were imported from Iran.

The EC's figures from the Rapid Alert System for Food show that, in 2001, 67 alerts were issued for Iranian pistachios, 36% of the total alerts on mycotoxins.

In a letter the FSA has therefore asked the European Commission to consider re-imposing the temporary suspension of imports of pistachios from Iran.

As regards peanut butter the FSA is to meet the manufacturers. The Agency wants to make sure that the industry's quality control and quality assurance regimes are adequate to ensure that mycotoxin levels are kept to a minimum.

The Agency will also be meeting enforcement authorities - including local councils - to urge them to carry out more checks on peanut butters.

Notes to Editors:

1. The main survey and the follow-up additional survey took place in 2000 and 2001. They looked at 227 samples. In the main survey of 171 the samples were: 75 various nuts, 61 dried nuts and 35 peanut and butters.

The follow-up survey looked at: 29 pistachios, 26 peanut butter and 1 other nut butter.

2. A previous survey in 1996 found unacceptable totals of mycotoxins in 9% of samples. In the 2000/01 there were unacceptable totals in 6% of samples.

In the main 2000/01 survey Aflotoxin B1 concentrations above the regulatory limits were found in 13% of samples. In the additional survey the figure was 9%.

3. The regulatory limit for Aflatoxin B1 is 2 micrograms/kg. A measurement of uncertainty of plus or minus 0.4 micrograms/kg at a level of 2 microgram/kg for Aflatoxin B1 is allowed for in the table below.

4. The levels found in the additional survey in the products named above were as follows:

	micrograms / kg	Lot No	Best Before Dates
Pistachios
Balham Wholefoods Raw Pistachios	93.3 ± 20.5	none	09/02/2002
Natco Pistachio Kernels	16.6 ± 3.7	21120C6560	Dec 01
Rainbow Wholefoods Roasted and Salted Pistachios	8.6 ± 1.9	none	18-May-02
Peanut Butter
Whole Earth Crunchy 3 Nut Butter	2.9 ± 0.4	L1157	Jun-02
Sun-Pat Crunchy Peanut Butter	2.5 ± 0.4	L1200	Jul-02

5. Mycotoxins are produced by certain moulds growing on food crops. Many are genotoxic carcinogens - they can cause cancer by damaging DNA.