The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued new advice to industry on
food products that may contain potentially contaminated olive-pomace
oil from Spain.
This follows earlier action by the FSA to withdraw Spanish olive-pomace
oil from the UK market on 6th July. The Spanish Government banned this
oil after finding high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
PAHs are widespread environmental pollutants that include chemicals that
could cause cancer.
The Agency has advised industry that all fat spreads and salad dressings
that contain Spanish olive-pomace oil should be recalled unless it can
be shown that the products contain acceptably low levels of PAHs. The
Agency has stressed that only a very small number of products are likely
to be affected by this recall and that retailers should identify the
products and alert consumes. The FSA will publish details of these
products on its website.
UK produced fat spreads do not use olive-pomace oil. Spanish olive-pomace
oil represents around 0.1% of the one million tonnes of vegetable oil
consumed each year in the UK. This advice does not apply to products made
from any other olive oils nor to non-Spanish olive-pomace oils.
(Source: Food Standards Agency Press Release, 17th July 2001)
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