Incorrect food labelling pushes up recalls

RSSL analysed data published by the UK Food Standards Agency, the US Food & Drug Administration and US Food Safety & Inspection Service and found that 50% of recalls in both countries were down to incorrect labelling. In total 172 recall notices/incident alerts reported by the US agency websites, and 116 reported in the UK. According to Karen Masters of RSSL: "These figures do not tell us everything about the quality and safety challenges that food manufacturers need to address, but it is interesting that allergen mislabelling is the stand-out statistic from both countries. "The mislabelling of allergens often occurs when producers have failed to understand fully how their ingredients are processed by raw material suppliers, or simply because there has been some oversight in the production of packaging or a move to new packaging. "Food manufacturers have to be on their guard because we live in a time when cheese is being recalled because milk hasn't been indicated on the label, and packs of mixed nuts are recalled when peanuts aren't specifically mentioned."