Reporting and recalling unsafe food and animal feed
Are you a producer, distributor, or seller of human food or animal feed in the Netherlands? And did you potentially make, supply, or store an unsafe product? You must report this immediately to the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (Nederlandse Voedsel en Waren Autoriteit, NVWA).
If you fail to notify the NVWA of unsafe food or animal feed, you may be fined, receive a written warning, or an official report.
Did you import unsafe food or animal feed for a Dutch company? And do you want to export this shipment to a country within or outside the EU? Then you must also report this to the NVWA.
When should you report unsafe food or animal feed?
As soon as an unsafe product has left the direct control of your company, it must be reported to the NVWA within 4 hours. This also applies to raw materials that turn out to be unsafe upon arrival. You must also report if you have strong suspicion the product might be unsafe.
What is unsafe human food?
A foodstuff is a substance or product ultimately consumed by humans, either processed or unprocessed.
A product is considered unsafe human food if:
- it contains foreign materials such as metal particles, glass splinters, or plastic
- it contaons allergens that are not listed on the food label
- it is spoiled
- it does not meet the conditions for biological safety or for chemical safety (for instance, when it is contaminated with bacteria or it contains unsafe levels of pesticides)
The NVWA's instruction for reporting unsafe food (Meldwijzer NVWA onveilige levensmiddelen, in Dutch) can help you when a food is unsafe and you should make a report.
Reporting unsafe human food
Dis you sell, produce, distribute, or store potentially unsafe human food in the Netherlands? You must report this to the NVWA (in Dutch). You must also inform the NVWA who supplied you with the unsafe raw material and to whom you supplied the end product. In addition, you must inform your supplier(s).
Did you transport or distribute human food, and do you think this food may be unsafe? You must report this to the NVWA as well.
You can find direct links to all applicable (Dutch-language) forms to report unsafe food and unsafe animal feed on the NVWA's website.
What is unsafe animal feed?
Animal feed is a substance or product ultimately consumed by animals. If you produce, sell, or transport animal feed you should register with the NVWA. If you supply farms with animal feed for barn animals or cattle, you must register your business with the Netherlands Enterprise Agency (RVO) and report all relevant data with regard to the products you have supplied(in Dutch).
Unsafe animal feed is:
- feed which contains undesirable or harmful substances, or extraneous matter
- feed which may be hazardous for the health of animals and people
- feed that is harmful to the environment
Reporting unsafe animal feed
Did you discover potentially unsafe feed or animal by-products? You must report the animal feed to the NVWA (in Dutch). Anyone working with animal feed has to report unsafe products, for instance:
- feed businesses
- livestock farmers
- laboratories (in Dutch)
- veterinarians
- storage operators
- transhipment companies
- traders
After your notification
After you have reported unsafe human food or animal feed, the NVWA will check with you:
- how big the risk is
- if the measures you have taken are sufficient
- if you should take extra measures such as retrieving the products from stores or announcing a recall
The NVWA monitors the measures you take. It depends on the seriousness of the report how they perform these inspections. The monitoring is done immediately, on a random basis, or during the regular inspection. And it can be either physical, by telephone, or digital. On the NVWA website you can find more information on what happens after you have reported (in Dutch).
If the health risks are substantial, you must recall the product and supply a safety warning (in Dutch) to the NVWA. The NVWA will contact you for this to make a proper safety warning according to their protocol. The NVWA publishes all recalls on their website (in Dutch).