A new report by New Zealand Food Safety has identified Salmonella in imported sesame seed-based products as the most significant food safety event of 2023. This has resulted in 14 recalls affecting 65 food products.
According to the 'Consumer-level food recalls annual report for 2023', these recalls were initiated after Salmonella was detected during routine testing by a New Zealand business making tahini products.
"A complex investigation by our Food Compliance Services team involving product testing and tracing of ingredients through the domestic market found the contamination was from tahini imported from a Turkish manufacturer," said New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle.
"By the time all the sesame seed-based products were tracked down and removed from sale, we had supported 14 recalls affecting 65 products. And, most importantly, we had no confirmed reports of related illness."
Arbuckle said that the priority was to protect consumers, and these reports helped identify trends and find ways to prevent food safety incidents.
"New Zealand’s food safety system has a strong track record of keeping people safe. However, there are occasions when food safety issues occur, and that’s when we work quickly with food businesses to recall the affected product, remove it from the food supply chain, and promote public awareness."
In 2023, New Zealand Food Safety supported businesses conducting 70 consumer-level food recalls, but the number of recalls needed to indicate the level of risk to consumers accurately.
Numbers depend on many factors, including regulatory changes, business and public awareness of food-related problems, and reporting those problems. Of the 70 recalls, 48 were initiated for domestically produced foods, and 22 were for imported foods.
Food allergens were the leading cause of recalls in 2023, with milk being the allergen that triggered the most recalls. Another food safety event was the possible presence of Listeria and Campylobacter in raw milk, which led to three recalls. Raw milk carries inherent risks as it may contain harmful bacteria that would usually be killed through pasteurisation.
"In this case, there were fortunately no associated reports of Listeriosis, which can be very serious for vulnerable people like the very young, pregnant women, the elderly, and those with low immunity. But we were notified of 3 related cases of Campylobacter, which causes vomiting, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, fever, headache, and body aches."
By the numbers:
70 consumer-level recalls in 2023
48 recalls for domestically produced foods
22 recalls for imported foods
26 recalls for allergens (the leading cause for recalls)
12 recalls for milk (the allergen triggering the most recalls)
23 recalls due to microbiological contamination
14 recalls due to physical contamination.
