On a Friday in early December 2021, Tesco Ireland began withdrawing several of its own-brand food supplements after Irish regulators found traces of chloroethanol, a byproduct of the pesticide ethylene oxide. The products, which people often take steadily as part of daily routines, now sit at the meeting point between a store's trust and a regulator's caution. The authorities judge that a single dose poses no acute danger, but that long, continuous intake is the real concern, and so the recall asks people to stop the exposure rather than panic over it. How the substance entered the supply chai
Tesco Ireland Recalls Own-Brand Supplements Over Chloroethanol, a Breakdown Product of the Banned Pesticide Ethylene Oxide
Not an emergency, but exposure needs to be kept to a minimum
Mark
So what exactly has Tesco recalled?
Mimi
Four own-brand supplements: Pregnancy Support, Menopause Support, High Strength Vitamin B Complex, and Turmeric & Vitamin D. The FSAI issued the alert on a Friday.
Mark
And the problem is a pesticide?
Mimi
Chloroethanol, which is described as a reaction product of ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide isn't permitted in foods sold in the EU, though other countries approve it.
Luke
Worth being careful there. The report says chloroethanol was identified in the products. It doesn't say how it got in, or where the ingredients came from.
Mark
How worried should people be?
Mimi
The FSAI says there's no acute risk to health. The concern is long-term, continued consumption over a long period.
Luke
And that's the regulator's assessment, not a measured exposure figure. We're not told how much was found, so nobody can say what a given person's exposure was.
Mark
Why does it matter that these are supplements?
Mimi
People often take them daily, so the cumulative point applies directly. That's why the FSAI says exposure should be minimised.
Luke
Fair, but that's an inference about habits. The report doesn't say how many people bought them or how many packs were affected.
Mark
What should a customer do?
Mimi
Check the batch table the FSAI published. Not every pack is necessarily covered, and notices will be displayed in the stores supplied with the batches.
Der Puls
- Four Tesco own-brand supplements, from pregnancy and menopause support to vitamin B and turmeric with vitamin D, have been pulled from shelves over a pesticide-linked contaminant.
- The FSAI's alert turns a routine supplement habit into a question for anyone who takes these products every day.
- Ethylene oxide is banned in EU foods but approved elsewhere, so the question of where the contamination came from hangs unanswered.
- Regulators say acute risk is low, yet they urge that long-term exposure be stopped, steering people toward batch checks and store notices.
- Tesco is removing affected stock and posting point-of-sale notices, while the source and batch details are still being traced.
On a Friday in early December 2021, Tesco Ireland began withdrawing several of its own-brand food supplements after Irish regulators found traces of chloroethanol, a byproduct of the pesticide ethylene oxide. The products, which people often take steadily as part of daily routines, now sit at the meeting point between a store's trust and a regulator's caution. The authorities judge that a single dose poses no acute danger, but that long, continuous intake is the real concern, and so the recall asks people to stop the exposure rather than panic over it. How the substance entered the supply chain remains an open question.
Tesco Ireland has taken several of its own-brand food supplements off the shelves after the Food Safety Authority of Ireland found a pesticide-related contaminant in them. The alert, issued on a Friday, names four products: Pregnancy Support, Menopause Support, High Strength Vitamin B Complex, and Turmeric & Vitamin D. These are supplements rather than everyday groceries, so the people most affected are likely those who take them regularly.
The substance is chloroethanol, a reaction product of ethylene oxide, a pesticide that the EU does not allow in food but some countries outside it approve. The regulator's view is measured. Consuming the products does not pose an acute risk, but the danger grows with continuous use over a long period, so exposure should be kept to a minimum. The recall is therefore less an emergency than a request to stop ongoing intake.
Tesco is removing the implicated items and displaying notices in the stores that received the affected batches. The FSAI has published a batch table, so customers can check their packs rather than assume all are affected. Where the contamination originated has not yet been disclosed, and further batch details and tracing findings are still to come.
Tesco Ireland has pulled several of its own-brand food supplements from shelves after a pesticide-related contaminant was found in them. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) issued the alert on a Friday, and the recall covers products sold under the supermarket's own label.
Four products are named in the notice: Pregnancy Support, Menopause Support, High Strength Vitamin B Complex, and Turmeric & Vitamin D. All four are supplements rather than everyday groceries, which means the people most likely to have them at home are those who take them regularly.
The substance behind the recall is chloroethanol, which the notice describes as a recognised reaction product of ethylene oxide. Ethylene oxide is a pesticide. It is not permitted for use in foods sold in the European Union, though it is approved in some countries outside the EU. The source does not say where the affected ingredients came from or how the substance got into the products.
The FSAI's assessment is measured. It said that consuming the contaminated products does not pose an acute risk to health. The concern is cumulative: the authority said the risk rises if the contaminated food is eaten continuously over a long period. For that reason, it said, exposure to the substance needs to be kept to a minimum.
That distinction shapes what the recall is asking of people. It is not an emergency warning about immediate harm, but a step to cut off ongoing exposure, which matters most for anyone taking one of these supplements daily.
Tesco is removing the implicated items from sale. Point-of-sale recall notices will be displayed in the Tesco stores that were supplied with the affected batches. The FSAI published a table listing the specific batches covered, so anyone holding one of the four products can check the batch details against that list rather than assuming every pack is affected.
What remains unanswered is the origin of the contamination. The reporting so far identifies the products, the substance and the regulator's view of the risk, but not the supplier or ingredient responsible. Watch for further batch-level detail from the FSAI and for any word on how the contamination was traced.
Bemerkenswerte Zitate
Consuming the contaminated product does not pose an acute risk, but the risk increases with continued consumption over a long period, so exposure should be minimised.— Food Safety Authority of Ireland (paraphrased)
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