Spanish CO Yellowfin Intercepted In Italyff

With Spanish yellowfin dominating EU Rapid Alerts for this month, slices of yellowfin tuna exported from Spain have been found to contain carbon monoxide. Italian authorities notified the European Commission Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) after they identified carbon monoxide treatment (700 pg/kg-ppb) in the imported tuna product.




In high concentrations, carbon monoxide; the colorless, odorless and tasteless gas can be toxic to humans. The notification was issued as a consumer complaint and the yellowfin slices were reported and listed as “product (presumably) no longer on the market.”

Two more cases were reported by the Italian authorities of yellowfin tuna products that had been imported from Spain. Yellowfin tuna loins were found to contain levels of histamine (>250mg/kg-ppm), as well as frozen yellowfin tuna slices were notified for mercury (2mg/kg-ppm).

Despite Spanish exports being the source of the majority of the EU rapid alerts for October, a notification also came from France for histamine (>250 mg/kg-ppm) found in frozen skipjack tuna loins from Vietnam. The product was rejected at the border and listed as “not (yet) placed on the market.”