In Italy, nearly one food alarm was reported every day, for a total of 317 alerts; however, as many as 86% of these alerts pertained to foreign-imported products. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by Coldiretti on the occasion of World Food Safety Day. Only 44 (14%) of the 317 alarms that occurred in Italy in 2022 involved products of national origin, while 106 (33%) originated from other European Union countries and 167 (53%) originated from non-EU nations. In other words, more than eight out of ten products that are hazardous to food safety come from outside the country (86%). The greatest threats to Italy came from Spanish fish due to high mercury levels, as well as mollusks and bivalves from Spain, in particular due to the presence of norovirus, a pathogen also found in French oysters. Salmonella-contaminated poultry meat from Poland, pistachios and dried figs from Turkey are also extremely hazardous due to their high levels of carcinogenic aflatoxins, which are also present in pistachios from the United States, cherry tomatoes from Egypt, and lychees from China due to the presence of pesticides in excess of the permitted limits.
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