This means an increase of 17% compared with 2016, when a total of 514 notifications were registered. By category, the number of notifications for edible nuts increased by 17% compared with 2016; for dried fruits rose by 11%. The presence of aflatoxins was the main reason for notifying nuts (85%) and dried fruits (48%).
The most notified edible nuts were peanuts, with 200 notifications, followed by pistachios (113 not.) and hazelnuts (57 not.). By country of origin, the most frequently notified edible nuts were peanuts from China (21%), pistachios from Iran (12%) and pistachios from USA (7%). The number of notifications for peanuts from China increased by 56% in 2017 in relation to 2016, as well as the notifications for pistachios from USA, which had more than doubled.
As for dried fruits, dried figs (75 not.), dried apricots (40 not.) and dried grapes (25 not.) were the most notified. The main reasons for notifying were aflatoxins (48%), sulphites (32%) and Ochratoxin A (10%). Dried figs and dried apricots from Turkey were still the most notified, representing 47% and 27%, respectively, of the total notifications, followed by dried grapes from Turkey (8%). The number of notifications for dried figs, dried apricots and dried grapes from Turkey notably increased by 26%, 30% and 200%, respectively, compared with previous year.
The data presented here have been extracted from the RASFF Portal of the European Commission.