Import notifications by causes (2022)
In 2022, the European Union recorded a total of 220 import notifications through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). The causes were organized into six risk categories, including: chemical, microbiological, histamine, toxins, parasites, and a broad category called “other causes”. As summarized in the table below, most notifications were due to the category “other causes” (91 cases), followed by microbiological causes (52 cases), by chemical causes (45 cases), and the presence of histamine above the maximum levels, with 15 cases recorded. The fifth-largest cause of import notifications was due to the presence of parasites (11 causes). toxins (six cases) and the presence There was a few decreases in notifications from 221 in 2021 to 220 in 2022.
Import notifications by category (Number cases – 2022)
| Month | Others | Microbiological | Chemical | Histamine | Parasites | Toxins | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 91 | 52 | 45 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 220 |
| January | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| February | 10 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 |
| March | 9 | 7 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 21 |
| April | 7 | 1 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 17 |
| May | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 12 |
| June | 15 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 21 |
| July | 7 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 17 |
| August | 10 | 9 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 25 |
| September | 13 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 23 |
| October | 3 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 19 |
| November | 5 | 8 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 19 |
| December | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 19 |
Source: RASFF Portal
Percentage of the causes
As shown in the figure, the “other causes” category was the main category in terms of number of notifications, accounting for 41 percent of the total. Microbiological causes accounted for 24 percent, followed by chemical causes (20 percent) parasites, histamine (seven percent), parasites (five percent) and toxins (three percent).