France Joins Luxembourg and Belgium in Recalling Frozen Flat-Leaf Parsley Over STEC E. coli

RappelConso announced on September 24 a nationwide recall in France of one lot of chopped frozen flat-leaf parsley, in 250-gram bags, sold from July 31 to September 23 in the stores of a chain specializing in frozen foods, because of the presence of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC). The authority asked consumers not to eat the product, to return it or destroy it, and offered refunds to buyers.

The French notice follows the recall of frozen flat-leaf parsley from the same chain by Luxembourg's food authority (ALVA) on September 9 for E. coli, and the publication of Belgium's own recall of frozen parsley for STEC by the AFSCA on September 15. With this notice, the recall of frozen parsley from that chain now spans three European countries in a little over two weeks.

Frozen parsley is almost always used as a finishing seasoning, sprinkled over dishes that are already cooked or added at the end of cooking to preserve its color and aroma, so in most preparations it does not receive a heat treatment capable of inactivating STEC. Freezing does not eliminate the bacterium either; it only stops it from multiplying, and the product has a very long shelf life, which explains why the lot remained on sale for almost two months before the recall.

For TAAG, the sequence of Luxembourg, Belgium and France shows how a single frozen plant-based product can trigger staggered national recalls within the European Union, each with its own detection timeline. In herbs consumed without cooking, verifying STEC in the raw material before freezing is the point where a single finding prevents a chain of recalls across several markets.