SINGAPORE, Feb 23 — The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) has directed food manufacturer Sing Long Foodstuff Trading to recall all batches of its Ground Peanut Powder with Sugar product, which was found to contain high levels of aflatoxins.
In a news release, SFA said yesterday that the level of aflatoxins detected in the product exceeded the maximum limits stated in the Singapore Food Regulations.
Aflatoxins can occur in foods such as groundnuts as a result of fungal contamination before and after harvest.
They are known to be genotoxic, which means they can damage the genetic information within a cell, resulting in mutations or cancer. They are also known to be carcinogenic, which means they have the potential to cause cancer.
Exposure to aflatoxins through food should be kept as low as possible, SFA said.
The agency said that it detected the presence of the aflatoxins during a routine sampling of the product, and that the recall is ongoing.
Those who have purchased the implicated product are advised not to consume it.
“While occasional ingestion of food contaminated with aflatoxins is not expected to cause appreciable health risk, those who have consumed the implicated product and have concerns about their health should seek medical advice,” SFA said.
Consumers may also contact their point of purchase for enquiries, the agency added.This is not the first time that an issue was found with Singlong products.
On February 22, 2019, the authorities said a batch of Singlong brand peanut puff was being recalled after a small metal fragment was found inside a peanut puff.
The year before that, a metal screw was found in a bottle of Singlong’s crunchy peanut butter.
The authorities said that the screw could have been introduced during the manufacturing process. The specific batch of the product was then recalled. ― TODAY
