The Spanish Food Safety and Nutrition Agency (AESAN) announced a new health alert this Friday, March 31 on the presence of ergot alkaloids in a batch of whole rye flourFrom the agency they recommend not to consume this product from Spain, as well as its withdrawal from the market, as established by the food alerts protocol.
Thanks to the Coordinated Rapid Information Exchange System (SCIRI), AESAN has made public this food alert from which it warns of the presence of ergot alkaloids in a batch of flour from the integral center of the brand. BIOGRÀ with preferential consumption on 05/30/2023.
So if in recent days you have included a package of wholemeal flour in the basket, it is important that you look at this product in your pantry and with a magnifying glass and thus make sure that you have not stored it the batch concerned.
Here we leave the product data so that you can identify it more easily:
- Product name: Whole rye flour.
- Brand: BIOGRA.
- Product Appearance: Packed in a plastic bag.
- Batch number: 21-005.
- Expiry date: 05/30/2023.
- Weight: 500 grams.
Batch of wholemeal rye flour touched. / AESAN
Despite the fact that this alert had its epicenter in Catalonia, after an exhaustive investigation, the health agencies competent in the matter have extended the alert for this product to other communities where the batch concerned has also been distributed: Andalusia, Community Valencian, Castile – La Mancha, Castilla y León, Community of Madrid, Galicia Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, La Rioja and the Basque Country.
From AESAN, they advise to pay particular attention to these products and not to consume them under any circumstances.
Pile of whole rye flour. / Getty
What are ergot alkaloids?
According to AESAN itself, alkaloids, also called ergot alkaloids (AE), refer to the different types of fungi that usually appear in different cereals: rye, wheat, barley, oats… They tend to be very popular in Europe.
Regarding its possible consumption, people usually show symptoms derived from ergotism, i.e. convulsions, hallucinations, tingling, pain, changes in body temperature, absence of pulse, abdominal pain …
Therefore, if you have any of these symptoms and have recently consumed this type of flour, go to the nearest medical institutions to put yourself in the hands of professionals.