Following Aldi, supermarket chain Colruyt is now also recalling courgettes because they contain excessive levels of heptachlor, an insecticide. Anyone who has bought the courgettes is asked not to eat them and to return them to the store. “As this is a slight exceedance of the limit, there is little cause for concern,” explains toxicologist Jan Tytgat.
At Aldi, the affected courgettes, known as zucchini in Australia and the US, were sold in packs of two. They can be identified by the batch number 100320823962. The courgettes were sold there from 10 to 22 August.
At Colruyt, the issue concerns loose courgettes, with item number 29707. These were sold from 10 to 24 August. Aldi and Colruyt have since removed the affected courgettes from their shelves.
Both supermarkets are asking customers who bought the courgettes not to eat them. Anyone who returns them to the shop will be refunded, even without the original packaging or receipt.
What is heptachlor?
Heptachlor is a pesticide that was formerly used in agriculture to control insects and termites. Its use has been banned in the European Union since 1978, but traces of the substance continue to turn up in crops to this day as a result of its past use.
Excessive exposure to heptachlor (epoxide) can damage the liver and may cause cancer.
“We measured 0.011 milligrams of heptachlor per kilogram of courgettes, whilst the limit is 0.010 milligrams per kilogram,” explains Hélène Bonte of the Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC). She adds that the courgettes were most likely contaminated due to historical soil pollution with heptachlor.
“Minimal health risks”
“As this is only a slight exceedance of the limit, people need not be overly concerned,” explains toxicologist Jan Tytgat. “However, it is wise not to eat the contaminated courgettes and simply to return them to the shop.”
“But there are few health risks for those who did eat them. Unless you ate more than two courgettes in quick succession, but even then you won’t develop symptoms straight away. For example, if you made a spaghetti sauce with a courgette in it, you can still eat it without any problem. That remains below the standard of 0.007 milligrams that an adult weighing 70 kilograms is allowed to consume per day.”