There are countless food product recalls. From Kinder chocolates to Buitoni frozen pizzas, including Jardin Bio bouillon cubes and cheese. For more than a year, more than 4,000 product recall procedures have been recorded. That’s over 250 reminders per month.
Honey is known to be a very pure and natural product. Its composition makes it an imperishable food. Indeed, due to its very low water content and acidity, bacteria cannot grow in honey. Unless it has been modified by adding sugar (which is a scam within the European Union), honey is in fact a raw material with recognized properties.
In fact, in principle, it is very rare for a nutritional problem to arise from honey. It’s even better if you buy it directly from the producer. However, the Rappel Conso site recently reported the recall of two honey references.
Both products are sold in supermarkets. It is not a health risk. The product recall is due to a change in the appearance and taste of the product.
Product recall: the honey in question is harmless to health
The recalled honey has organoleptic changes. If the term sounds impressive, it simply means that the product will look, feel or even taste different than expected.
However, as French regulations are very strict, a product that does not comply with specifications must be recalled. The honey in question is sold in jars of the BESACIER brand.
The first is an organic orange blossom honey, 500 g. The batch is 02/11/2023 L2B and the expiry date is 02/11/2023. The second is Orange Blossom Honey in a 500g jar. Two batches are recalled: 01/10/2024 L3D and 07/07/2023 L3D with respective expiry dates of 01/10/2024 and 07/07/2023. However, this honey is the subject of a recall without a prefectural order and on the basis of the voluntary participation of the manufacturer.
This honey should therefore not be consumed. However, if you have already eaten it, there is no danger for you. We are far from the scandals involving Buitoni pizzas or Kinder children’s chocolates.
However, if you want a refund, you must return the honey to the store as soon as possible. The references in question are sold throughout France. The Leclerc, Auchan, Intermarché and Carrefours Market brands are concerned.
As always, all the information is detailed on the Rappel Conso.fr site, which lists all the products concerned by the recall. You can also contact Consumer Services on 04 77 67 17 33 (freephone) for further assistance.
Product reminder: a website accessible to all
To combat this phenomenon and better inform consumers, the Directorate General for Competition, Consumer Affairs and Fraud Prevention (DGCCRF) has finally set up a portal listing all product recalls reported in France. This site, rappel.conso.gouv.fr, free and available since Thursday April 1, 2021, is intended to be the single site for alerts on dangerous products.
On this portal, product recalls will be classified under different themes (food, hygiene-beauty, habitat-home, household appliances-tools, etc.) with a photo of the product, the brand, the risk involved and possibly the batch number and /or the geographical area concerned.
Medicines, on the other hand, will be absent from this list. Medicines and medical devices will continue to be declared to the National Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM) under existing procedures, specifies the Ministry of the Economy.
All this information will be detailed by the professional himself, who will have the obligation to declare all his recalls on this site by filling in a product sheet. Ultimately, everything rests on the shoulders of companies, which we hope will not take long to react.
