Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland Recall Danish Smoked Trout Fillets Over Listeria monocytogenes After a RASFF Alert

Switzerland's Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO) published on October 24, 2026 a public warning over the presence of Listeria monocytogenes in plain smoked trout fillets, in 125-gram packs, sold by a supermarket chain, which ordered their recall. The same product is being recalled in Belgium, where AFSCA published the notice on October 23, in Germany and in Austria. It is made by a supplier in Denmark, whose Veterinary and Food Administration notified the case to RASFF as a serious risk alert, validated on October 19, with distribution in Austria, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland.

According to the European notification, the bacterium was found in an official control on the market, with samples taken on September 29: it was detected in 25 grams in 2 of 5 samples, with a count below 10 cfu/g, in a modified-atmosphere packaged product from batch LS42726 1139. In Germany, the lebensmittelwarnung.de portal published the recall on October 20 and extended it on October 23: it affects the plain variety, with four use-by dates between October 20 and November 3, 2026, and a peppered variety, sold in six federal states. Austria extended its notice on October 23 to the November 3 use-by date, Switzerland covers the November 1 date and Denmark added batches to the notification on October 26. Consumers are asked not to eat the product and to return it to the store.

Packaged smoked fish is a ready-to-eat food: it is eaten without cooking and kept refrigerated for weeks. Listeria monocytogenes tolerates salt and cold, can multiply at refrigeration temperatures and settles on the surfaces of filleting and packing rooms, from where it passes to the product after smoking. That is why a low count at the time of sampling does not rule out an increase during shelf life. According to the FSVO, the infection is usually mild in healthy people, but it can be severe and even fatal in newborns, young children, older people, pregnant women and immunocompromised people, and the German portal advises pregnant women who ate the product to see a doctor even if they have no symptoms.

For smoked fish processors, the case shows how a batch from a single plant can reach four countries and force coordinated recalls. Prevention combines environmental monitoring of equipment and surfaces, testing of each finished batch and refrigerated shelf-life studies. TAAG's Ampliora 2.3 kit detects Listeria spp. and L. monocytogenes by real-time PCR in foods and living and inert surfaces, and its datasheet includes the fishing and aquaculture industry, so it can support that internal control. Smoked trout is not listed as a specific matrix, and presumptive results must be confirmed with the reference method.