Finland records rise in recalls and outbreaks

Food recall statistics in Finland show the number of recalls exceeded 300 in 2024.

According to data collected by the Finnish Food Authority (Ruokavirasto) and recently published, there were 305 food product recalls in 2024. This is 55 more than in 2023.

The agency said the reason for the increase was not clear as no single hazard or product group stood out.

Microbiological hazards such as Salmonella and Listeria caused 57 recalls. Recalls were made in 25 cases because of Salmonella. The pathogen was found in a variety of foods, such as fresh herbs, seeds and pastes, as well as turkey, beef and pork.

Reasons for recalls
There were 38 recalls because of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables. This was a 25 percent decrease from the previous year. Of the individual pesticides, chlorpyrifos was still the most common, with 10 reports. In total, 22 different pesticides were cited in recall alerts.

Additives led to 35 recalls. In these cases, the recalled item contained an additive that is not permitted in the food or the level of the additive exceeded the maximum permitted amount.

The number of recalls because of physical hazards was 35 and 26 recalls were related to allergen issues. Milk was the most common cause, followed by gluten, and sulfites.

Other reasons included mycotoxins such as aflatoxin as well as labeling errors, for example an incorrect date, missing Finnish language labels or products in the wrong packaging.

On 30 occasions, the product defect was discovered during the company’s own monitoring.

Based on country of manufacture of implicated products, 46 percent originated outside the EU and 31 percent came from another European country. The remaining 23 percent concerned foods produced in Finland.

The product origin of 29 recalls was Asia, especially China, and pesticide residues were the main reason. There were 11 recalls involving the U.S. and the reasons were mainly ingredients that are considered novel foods in the EU and additives that are not approved in Europe.

Other statistics show almost 24,000 food control inspections were carried out in 2024, which is 5 percent more than the previous year. Almost 84 percent of the inspection results were excellent or good.

Outbreaks increase
There were 58 foodborne outbreaks, which is up from 45 in 2023. However, the number of people falling sick in them dropped to 993 from 1,671. As in previous years, norovirus was the most common pathogen with 20 outbreaks and 340 cases.

Two large, 23 medium, and 33 small foodborne epidemics were reported. An outbreak is large if more than 100 people are infected, medium if 11 to 100 people are sick, and small if 2 to 10 people are ill.

In one incident caused by the hepatitis E virus, 127 people fell ill across the country. The probable source was cured sausage products. Several different genotypes of the hepatitis E virus were found in samples taken from both infected individuals and sausages.

Oysters were recorded as the source in 10 outbreaks that affected 92 people.

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