Authorities are urging anyone who bought Value Pack Roasted Salted Peanuts since April 11 to check whether they are part of a batch that was recalled on April 5.
“Prolife Foods recalled specific batches of products containing peanuts last month over concerns that they could contain levels of aflatoxins above the allowable level in New Zealand,” New Zealand Food Safety (NZFS) deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle said.
“Disappointingly, some of these recalled products have been released for sale in error by Prolife.
“NZFS is investigating how this could have happened. We will be reviewing Prolife’s recall system to find out what went wrong, and to prevent it happening again."
The products affected by today’s recall are:
Value Pack (VP) Roasted Salted Peanuts (400g) with best-before dates of 08 OCT 2024 and 15 OCT 2024
The affected products were sold at selected New World, FreshChoice, Pak’nSave and Four Square stores nationwide.
Mr Arbuckle said aflatoxins are naturally occurring in many food products and are produced by a group of moulds that grow on foods produced in hot and tropical climates.
“Levels of aflatoxin in the New Zealand diet are usually very low and don't represent a health risk, however, consumption of food products with increased levels of aflatoxin over an extended period of time can be harmful.
“But despite the health risk being low in this case, any release of recalled products is of concern.”
New Zealand Food Safety has not received any notifications of associated illness.
If you have consumed any of this product and are concerned for your health, contact your health professional, or call Healthline on 0800 61 11 16 for free advice.
