Erucic acid update

In September 2004 the Agency advised people not to eat particular pickles, sauces and preserved vegetables imported from Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and India following a survey that showed that some products contained illegally high levels of erucic acid.

Erucic acid is a substance naturally found in some oils derived from plants, primarily in some varieties of mustard seed oil and rapeseed oil.

Although there have been no confirmed cases of erucic acid toxicity in humans, high levels of erucic acid have been linked to the formation of fatty deposits in heart muscle in animals.

The Agency stressed in its September advice that if you have occasionally eaten any of these products it is highly unlikely that you will have added to your risk of developing heart disease.

In addition, some limited animal studies have suggested that any fatty deposits that might have formed around the heart following consumption of high levels of erucic acid will gradually disappear if you reduce your consumption of erucic acid.

A breach of the 1977 Erucic Acid in Food Regulations applies when:

(a) erucic acid is more than 5% of the fatty acid content of any oil or fat or mixture of the two, or

(b) for foods with more than 5% total fat content, the erucic acid comprises more than 5% of the fatty acid content of all the oil or fat in the case of a food to which oil and/or fat has been added.

(c) where a product to which oil and/or fat have been added is aimed explicitly or implicitly at young children and infants, the same conditions in (b) apply except there is no minimum fat level, all such foods must comply irrespective of total fat content.

All the following products in the latest Food Alert are subject to a trade withdrawal.

Food Alerts are the FSA's way of letting local authorities and consumers know about problems associated with food and, in some cases, providing details of specific action to be taken.
They were previously known as Food Hazard Warnings and were issued under four categories (A, B, C and D).

Now they are issued under two categories:

• Food Alerts: For Action (replacing A, B and C)
• Food Alerts: For Information (replacing Category D)

Product name	Brand	Size	BB Date	Country of Origin
Hot Pepper Sauce	Laoganma	200g glass jar	2004.12.14 ZQ	China
		210g glass jar	2004.12.14.ZQ
		210g glass jar	14/04/2005
		300g glass jar	22/08/2005
		300g glass jar	28/02/2005
		215g glass jar		People's Republic of China
		294g glass jar
Oriental Black Bean Sauce	Laoganma	300g glass jar	20/09/2005	China
Chilli Black Bean Sauce	Laoganma	Glass jar	29/11/2005	China
Chilli Oil		210g glass jar	09/11/2005	China
Salted Black Bean Sauce		300g glass jar	27/11/2005	China
Satkora Pickle	Pran	300g glass jar	End Apr 2006	Bangladesh
		300g glass jar	27 Jun 2005	Bangladesh
Punjabi Pachranga Achar	Ashoka	500g glass jar	August 2005	India