New Zealand Food Safety is supporting Pendarves Ltd in its recall of a specific range of imported frozen anchovies due to the presence of a marine biotoxin.
The products have been removed from store shelves and have not been exported.
SeaWave brand anchovies are sold in 10kg boxes and smaller retail packs in various sizes.
The product has been imported from the United States of America (USA).
"Testing of the product has found the presence of domoic acid, a neurotoxin produced by certain algae that can cause amnesic shellfish poisoning in humans," said New Zealand Food Safety’s acting deputy director-general Claire McDonald.
"These products should not be eaten. You can return them to the place of purchase for a refund. If that’s not possible, throw it out."
The affected products were sold at a small number of supermarkets and specialty stores.
New Zealand Food Safety has not received any notifications of associated illness.
Symptoms are mainly gastrointestinal, especially at low toxin levels. These usually appear within 24 hours of eating and may include vomiting, nausea, diarrhoea, and abdominal cramps.
In more serious cases, there can be neurological symptoms. These can take up to three days to develop and can range from headaches and dizziness to memory loss and, for severe cases, coma.
The product is sold frozen or thawed at:
Pak’n Save Sylvia Park, Pak’n Save Hornby, Pak’n Save Invercargill, Pak’n Save Moorhouse, Hunter Fish Papakura, Lim Chhour Supermarket, Oceanz Seafood Henderson, Sunnyray Seafood, Wild Ocean Seafood Limited, Seafood Harbour Limited (Newmarket), Seafood Harbour (Mt Albert) Ltd, Seafood Harbour (Manukau) Ltd, Seafood Harbour (Botany) Ltd, Sea Treasure Seafoods Ltd and Seafood Bazaar Hamilton.
Some retail stores may defrost the product for sale. This recall only affects whole anchovies sold from the stores listed above.
More local FMCG news here
