For the products that contain the additive E410 known to be contaminated with ethylene oxide no safe level of exposure for consumers can be defined and hence any level might pose a risk to consumers.

This is what the Member States decided last 13 July 2021 during the Food and Feed Crisis Coordinators Meeting to align the follow-up to the ethylene oxide alert, a toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic fumigant, forbidden in Europe.

Since June 2021, the recalls related to ethylene oxide presence have been significant, especially of dairy products and ice creams, precisely because of locust bean gum as an ingredient. Check out Safety HUD for real-time monitoring of food safety and food fraud alerts.

Thanks to the right technologies and excellent experts, Mérieux NutriSciences can quantify ethylene oxide and 2-chloroethanol in compliance with Reg. (EC) 396/2005 on several matrices such as vegetable seeds, bakery products and cereals, rice, nuts, pulses, seeds-based products, fruit and vegetables, herbs and spices, coffee, dehydrated vegetables. Our experts have extended the method’s scope to food thickeners and dairy products.