The Food Standards Agency (FSA), working with Food Standards Scotland (FSS), is leading an investigation into the food supply chain of mustard ingredients which may have been contaminated with peanuts.
After publishing urgent allergy advice on 20th September and following food chain analysis, on-going investigations by the FSA and FSS have traced the contaminated mustard ingredients to three suppliers in India. These producers have supplied three spice companies in the UK; FGS Ingredients Ltd and two further companies, which have subsequently distributed the ingredients to a range of manufacturing, hospitality and retail businesses.
The FSA has asked all three spice companies to urgently check whether their products have been contaminated, and to immediately inform any businesses they have supplied.
As of 27th September, the FSA has published 66 product recalls undertaken by UK businesses, for a variety of products. Testing has identified contamination with peanut in multiple products across a number of businesses and the FSA said that it expects further recalls in the coming days.
The FSA said it will continue to update consumers with allergy alerts on its website.
Ensuring consumer safety must be the priority
Rebecca Sudworth, director of policy at the FSA: ”This investigation is complex and the FSA and FSS are working with relevant businesses, local authorities and agencies to put all necessary measures in place to protect consumers.
”For now, it remains very important that anyone with a peanut allergy avoids consuming products containing mustard as an ingredient until we are satisfied industry has identified and recalled all the specific affected products. Parents and carers of children who have a peanut allergy should take care to check the labels of food they buy and, if eating out, or getting a takeaway, ask the restaurant or café about foods that might contain mustard.
”While we understand that this advice may currently limit many people’s food choices, our priority must be to ensure consumer safety.
”We will update consumers as soon as more information becomes available. We strongly encourage individuals with allergies to sign up for our allergy alerts to stay informed about future recalls.”
Investigations to identify the root cause of the contamination are in progress, both in the UK and India, working with trade associations and affected businesses.
