Every product recall, allergy alert and food alert for action published by the Food Standards Agency for England, Wales and Northern Ireland, refreshed daily, with a plain explanation of what each kind of notice means and what a food business should do when one lands on an ingredient it uses.
Latest UK food alerts
Notices created in the last 90 days, newest first. Updated every morning from the Food Standards Agency.
The presence of salmonella in the products listed above. Symptoms caused by salmonella usually include fever, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you should stay away from work, school or nursery until you have stopped having symptoms for at least 48 hours to avoid passing it on to others.
The presence of salmonella in the products listed above. Symptoms caused by salmonella usually include fever, diarrhoea and abdominal cramps. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you should stay away from work, school or nursery until you have stopped having symptoms for at least 48 hours to avoid passing it on to others.
The presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the product listed above. Symptoms caused by Listeria monocytogenes can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea. However, in rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications, such as meningitis. Some people are more vulnerable to Listeria infections, including those over 65 years of age, pregnant women and their unborn babies, babies less than one month old and people with weakened immune systems.
Products: Inspired to Cook by Sainsbury’s Pitted Black Olives
The presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the product listed above. Symptoms caused by Listeria monocytogenes can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea. However, in rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications, such as meningitis. Some people are more vulnerable to Listeria infections, including those over 65 years of age, pregnant women and their unborn babies, babies less than one month old and people with weakened immune systems.
Oats (gluten) This product contains gluten making it a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy or intolerance to oats or gluten, or with coeliac disease.
The presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the products listed above. Symptoms caused by Listeria monocytogenes can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea. However, in rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications, such as meningitis. Some people are more vulnerable to listeria infections, including those over 65 years of age, pregnant women and their unborn babies, babies less than one month old and people with weakened immune systems.
The possible presence of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli STEC in the product listed above. Symptoms caused by STEC organisms include severe diarrhoea with or without blood in the stool, abdominal pain, vomiting, dehydration and sometimes haemolytic uremic syndrome, (HUS), a serious condition that can lead to kidney failure and can be fatal. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you should stay away from work, school or nursery until you have stopped having symptoms for at least 48 hours to avoid passing it on to others.
Products: Snacksters Chicken Fajita Wrap; Snacksters Hoi Sin Wrap; East Street Deli Sweet Chilli Chicken Wrap; Target a Snack Chicken Fajita Wrap
The possible presence of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in the products listed above. Symptoms caused by STEC can include severe diarrhoea (including bloody diarrhoea), abdominal pain and occasionally haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious condition that can lead to kidney failure and can be fatal. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you should stay away from work, school or nursery until you have stopped having symptoms for at least 48 hours to avoid passing it on to others.
Products: Rapunzel bioSnacky Das Original Red Clover – Seeds for Sprouts and Seedlings
The presence of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) in the product listed above. Symptoms can include severe diarrhoea (including bloody diarrhoea), abdominal pain and occasionally haemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), a serious condition that can lead to kidney failure and can be fatal. If you are experiencing these symptoms, you should stay away from work, school or nursery until you have stopped having symptoms for at least 48 hours to avoid passing it on to others.
Products: Asda Cheese & Tomato Pasta Salad; Asda Nacho Cheese Pasta Salad; Morrisons Chicken and Bacon Pasta
The possible presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the products listed above. Symptoms caused by Listeria monocytogenes can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea. However, in rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications, such as meningitis. Some people are more vulnerable to listeria infections, including those over 65 years of age, pregnant women and their unborn babies, babies less than one month old and people with weakened immune systems.
Allergens: Milk and Wheat (Gluten) The product contains milk and wheat (gluten), making it a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents, wheat or gluten, or with coeliac disease.
Products: Medium Coloured Ladybird; Small Red Ladybird; Large Red Heart; Mini Butterflies; Sports Car
MilkSoya
Milk and soya These products contain milk and soya making them a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy or intolerance to milk or milk constituents and/or an allergy to soya.
The presence of veterinary medicines, including antibiotics in the product may make it unsafe to consume and may be a possible health risk for anyone with an allergy to antibiotics (penicillin).
The presence of Listeria monocytogenes in the product listed in the table above. Symptoms caused by Listeria monocytogenes can be similar to flu and include high temperature, muscle ache or pain, chills, feeling or being sick and diarrhoea. However, in rare cases, the infection can be more severe, causing serious complications, such as meningitis. Some people are more vulnerable to listeria infections, including those over 65 years of age, pregnant women and their unborn babies, babies less than one month old and people with weakened immune systems.
Source: Food Standards Agency food alerts (data.food.gov.uk). Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Always read the full notice before acting on it.
Key takeaways
The FSA publishes three kinds of notice: Allergy Alerts (undeclared allergens), Product Recall Information Notices (other safety problems) and Food Alerts for Action (enforcement needed).
Most notices are allergy alerts. A product that is perfectly safe for most people is still recalled if its label misses one of the 14 allergens.
A recall affects you if you have the product in stock, have it in a recipe, or have sold food made with it. Check deliveries and sub-recipes, not just the shelf.
Quarantine the product, follow the notice, record what you did and tell your supplier. For allergy alerts, consider which customers may have been affected.
The three kinds of notice
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) issues a public notice when a food business recalls or withdraws a product that may be unsafe. There are three types, and the badge on each card above tells you which one you are looking at.
Notice
Code
When it is used
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between a product recall and a withdrawal?
A withdrawal removes a product from the supply chain before it reaches consumers, for example from warehouses and shop shelves. A recall goes further: the product has already reached consumers, so they are asked to return it or throw it away. The FSA's Product Recall Information Notices cover recalls; a business can withdraw a product without a public notice if it has not been sold.
Allergy Alert
AA
A product contains one of the 14 allergens that is not declared on the label, or the label is wrong in some other way that matters to people with an allergy or intolerance. The food is usually withdrawn from sale and recalled from customers.
Product Recall Information Notice
PRIN
A product is being recalled for a safety reason other than allergens: for example Listeria or Salmonella contamination, foreign bodies such as metal or plastic, an incorrect use-by date, or packaging that is not safe.
Food Alert for Action
FAFA
The most serious kind. It asks local authorities to take action, typically because a business has not withdrawn or recalled a product itself, or because the product has been distributed widely and needs tracing.
Alerts for Scotland are published by Food Standards Scotland, which runs a separate service. Many notices cover both, because products are distributed UK-wide.
What to do when a recall affects you
A notice is written for consumers first, so it names the brand, the pack size and the batch codes or use-by dates. For a food business the question is wider than “is it on my shelf”:
Check stock and recent deliveries. Match the brand, pack size and batch codes or dates in the notice against what is in your store, fridge and freezer, and against delivery notes for the period the notice covers.
Check your recipes. An ingredient rarely sits on the shelf for long. If it went into a sauce, a sub-recipe or a batch of prepared food, that food is affected too. This is where a recipe system earns its keep: search the ingredient and you have the list of every dish and product it touches.
Quarantine, don't bin. Set the product aside and label it so it cannot be used. The notice says whether to return it to the supplier or dispose of it; your supplier or the manufacturer may need it for the investigation.
Follow the notice. It tells you what the manufacturer is doing and what customers are being told. Do the same for food you have made with the product.
Think about customers.For an allergy alert, consider whether anyone who bought food containing the product could be at risk and how you can reach them, for example through your online shop's order history.
Record it. Note the notice, what you found, what you did and when. Your Environmental Health Officer will ask, and a written record is part of a working food safety management system.
Talk to the supplier. Confirm replacement stock is from an unaffected batch, and ask what they are changing so it does not happen again.
How a recall happens
UK food law puts the responsibility on the food business operator. When a business learns that a product it has placed on the market may be unsafe, it must withdraw it, recall it if it has reached consumers, and inform the competent authority. In practice that means telling the FSA (or Food Standards Scotland) and the local authority, who agree the wording and reach of the notice. Retailers put point-of-sale notices up in store, and the FSA publishes the alert on its website, by email and by text message.
Problems come to light from several directions: a customer reaction reported to the business, routine testing by the manufacturer or a local authority, a supplier telling its customers about a contaminated ingredient, or a labelling check. Allergen notices often start with a packaging error: the right product in the wrong pack, or a recipe change that was not carried through to the label.
How to stay informed
The FSA offers free email and SMS alert subscriptions, and this page lists the last 90 days of notices. The weak point is not finding out; it is reading every notice to spot the one that names a product you actually buy.
Recipee closes that gap. Each morning it fetches the new notices and compares the businesses and products they name against your own supplier list and ingredient names, grades the likelihood of a match, and emails the strong matches to the people you choose. A match links straight to the ingredient, so the sub-recipe search above is one click. Read more on the suppliers and ingredients pages, or book a demo.
Why are so many UK food recalls about allergens?
Because an undeclared allergen can cause a severe reaction, mislabelling counts as a safety issue even when the food is otherwise fine. Typical causes are a packaging mix-up, an ingredient change that was not carried through to the label, or cross-contamination in production. These are issued as Allergy Alerts.
Do I need to tell my customers if I used a recalled ingredient?
If you have served or sold food made with a recalled product, follow the instructions in the notice and speak to your local authority. For an allergen alert, you may need to tell customers who could have been affected, especially if the food was sold to go or delivered. Record what you did and when.
How quickly are new alerts published here?
This page is refreshed from the Food Standards Agency's alerts service every morning, and shows notices created in the last 90 days. For same-day notices, check the FSA's own alerts page or subscribe to its email and SMS alerts.
Can I get recalls matched automatically to my own suppliers?
Yes. Recipee compares every new FSA notice against the supplier and ingredient names in your account each morning and emails your chosen recipients when there is a likely match, so you do not have to read every alert to find the one that affects you.
