Food Alerts and Recalls

The Food Standards Office issues a food alert when food on sale in the Velocity Interoperability Network may be unsafe, and supervises the withdrawal or recall of the food concerned. Alerts are sent by email to the businesses on the register, which is why every food business must be registered and must keep its email address current. Withdrawals and recalls are recorded on this page.

Alert in force: FSO-2026-005, prepacked seeded bread

Two batches of prepacked seeded bread sold at all principal sites contain sesame that is not declared on the label. Customers with an allergy to sesame should not consume the product and may return it to the place of purchase. Businesses holding the affected batches must keep them out of sale until the Office closes the alert.

Kinds of notice. The Office issues three kinds of notice, according to whether the food has reached customers.

Food alert for action: Issued by email to every registered business, or to the businesses in the categories or at the sites concerned, when a food on sale in the Network may be unsafe. The alert identifies the product and the batches affected and states what businesses must do, normally to withdraw the product from sale and hold it pending instructions.
Product withdrawal notice: Published on this page when a product has been removed from sale before it reached customers. A withdrawal notice records the product, the reason and the businesses from which it was withdrawn, so that the position is a matter of record.
Product recall notice: Published on this page, and displayed at the point of sale by every business that sold the product, when a product must be recovered from customers. A recall notice tells customers not to consume the product and how to return it or dispose of it.

Register of alerts. Five alerts were issued during the transition period from 10 August to 5 September 2026, under the interim arrangements. Three concerned allergens that were present but not declared, which is why the labelling rules require written allergen information for food sold loose from 1 October 2026, two months before the rest of the rules take effect.

Register of food alerts, withdrawals and recalls, from 10 August 2026
Reference	Issued	Product	Reason	Sites affected	Action	Status
FSO-2026-001	14 August 2026	Chilled dessert, three batches	Milk present but not declared on the label	Central Exchange, Southbank Terminal	Recall	Closed 21 August 2026
FSO-2026-002	19 August 2026	Satay sauce served in a staff canteen	Peanut present but not declared at the point of sale	Southbank Terminal	Withdrawal	Closed 20 August 2026
FSO-2026-003	24 August 2026	Bread rolls, one production day	Metal fragments found in product during production checks	Westbrook Distribution Site and all retailers supplied from it	Recall	Closed 2 September 2026
FSO-2026-004	28 August 2026	Chilled ready meals, one delivery	Temperature of 11 °C recorded on delivery after a refrigeration failure in transit	Northgate Relay, three retailers	Withdrawal	Closed 29 August 2026
FSO-2026-005	3 September 2026	Prepacked seeded bread, two batches	Sesame present but not declared on the label	All principal sites	Recall	In force; closure expected by 12 September 2026

Duties of a business withdrawing a product. A business that has sold or supplied a food which may be unsafe is under the seven duties below whether or not the Office has yet issued an alert. A business that meets them promptly is not penalised for the withdrawal itself; the Office is concerned with the cause and with whether it has been corrected.

Stop the sale at once: As soon as a business has reason to believe that a food it has sold or supplied is unsafe, or does not comply with the labelling rules in a way that affects safety, it must stop selling it and remove it from display. It must not wait for the Office to instruct it.
Notify the Office within 24 hours: The business must write to the Office within 24 hours, giving the product, the batches and quantities affected, the reason, where the product has been sold or supplied, and what it has already done. The Office acknowledges every notification within one working day.
Trace and isolate the stock: All affected stock still held by the business must be identified from batch records, set apart from other food and marked so that it cannot be sold or used. Stock must not be destroyed or returned to a supplier until the Office has agreed.
Notify every business supplied: A business that has supplied the product to other businesses must tell each of them, in writing, on the same day it notifies the Office, and keep a record of whom it told and when. Those businesses are then under the same duties.
Notify customers where a recall is required: Where the product may already have reached customers, the business must display the recall notice at every point of sale at which the product was sold, in the form the Office provides, until the Office closes the alert.
Keep records and report: The business must record the quantities withdrawn, returned by customers and disposed of, and report them to the Office when asked and at the close of the alert. Records must be kept for at least twelve months.
Correct the cause: The business must identify why the food was unsafe or wrongly labelled and what it has changed to prevent a recurrence. The Office examines the change at the next inspection, which is brought forward where the cause was serious.

How an alert proceeds. The six steps below describe what happens from the first report to the closure of the alert. Most alerts are closed within ten days; an alert remains open longer where a recall extends across the Network or the cause has not been found.

Step 1: Report received
A report reaches the Office from a business, a customer, an inspector or the analysis of a sample. The alerts team assesses within one working day whether food on sale may be unsafe and, if so, whether the risk is confined to one business or extends across the Network.
Step 2: Alert for action issued
Where food on sale may be unsafe, the Office issues a food alert for action by email to the businesses concerned, identifying the product and batches and instructing withdrawal. Alerts affecting more than one site are sent to every registered business.
Step 3: Scope agreed with the business responsible
The Office agrees with the business responsible for the product which batches are affected, where they were sold or supplied, and whether the product must be recalled from customers or only withdrawn from sale. Where the business cannot say where the product went, the recall extends to every business that could have received it.
Step 4: Notice published
A withdrawal or recall notice is entered on the register on this page. For a recall, the Office provides the notice that businesses must display at the point of sale.
Step 5: Stock recovered and accounted for
Businesses withdraw the product and report the quantities held. The Office may inspect to verify that the product has been removed from sale and that isolated stock is properly marked.
Step 6: Alert closed
When the Office is satisfied that the product has been withdrawn or recovered as far as it can be, and that the cause has been identified, it closes the alert, notifies the businesses concerned and records the closure on the register. Recall notices may then be taken down.

Anyone who believes that a food on sale in the Network is unsafe may report it to the Office; the steps for doing so are set out on the Food Safety page. A business notifying a withdrawal should write to contact@food.gov.vin with the subject line Notification of unsafe food and its registration number. The number of alerts issued, and the time taken to close them, are reported on the Statistics page.