Food alerts

Food alerts are issued by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). They let local authorities and consumers know about problems associated with food and, in some cases, provide details of specific action to be taken.

Reasons for food alerts

Food alerts occur when there is reason to believe that a food may cause consumers to become ill.

Possible reasons include:

• discovery of an organism in a product which may make consumers sick
• discovery of a potential allergen in a product
• mislabelling or misbranding of food. For example, a food may contain an allergen, such as nuts or eggs, but those ingredients do not appear on the label

Types of food alerts

There are three main type of food alerts:

• Food withdrawal information notice - food withdrawals request that the retailer takes particular food off the shelves
   
• Food recall information notices - these alerts advise customers to return particular food to where it was purchased
   
• Food alerts for action - these alerts mean that food business and local authorities must take the relevant precautions to ensure the food involved is removed from the food chain directed by the FSA

Search for food alerts

Search for the latest food alerts by visiting:

Food Standards Agency - search latest news and alerts

Sign up for food alerts

To sign up for email or mobile food alerts visit

Food Standards Agency - subscribe to email and mobile alerts