Food safety recalls in NZ: the 2025 report

The annual report by New Zealand Food Safety identified the recall of 27 products due to metal fragments in peanut ingredients as last year’s largest food safety recall.

The ‘Consumer-level food recalls annual report 2025’, published today (17 June 2026), shows New Zealand Food Safety coordinated four recalls across several brands after being notified by a food manufacturer of wire-like metal fragments being found in products during routine metal detection.

“This was a complex case but comprehensive action by the New Zealand Food Safety team ensured the risk to the public from a total of 27 different food products was minimised,” said New Zealand Food Safety deputy director-general Vincent Arbuckle.

“New Zealand Food Safety identified the source of the contamination as metal fragments from sieving equipment used in imported peanut flour and chopped peanuts.

“We worked closely with the importer to trace affected batches and identify businesses that had received them. Exported products with the affected ingredients also had to be traced and the relevant international authorities were notified.

“Most importantly, there were no confirmed reports of related injury.”

New Zealand’s food safety system had a strong track record of keeping people safe and — given the volumes of food being produced, manufactured and imported — incidences of related illness or injury remained rare.

“But when food safety issues do occur, that’s when we work quickly with food businesses to recall the affected product, removing it from the food supply chain and promoting public awareness.”

The 2025 report shows New Zealand Food Safety supported food businesses to conduct 57 consumer-level food recalls.

“Even though this number is down on the 88 recalls in 2024, it’s important to note that the number of recalls is not an accurate indicator of the level of risk to consumers. Numbers are dependent on many factors, including distribution and use of an affected food, business and public awareness of food-related problems, and reporting of those problems,” Arbuckle said.

Of the 57 recalls, 37 were initiated for domestically produced foods and 20 were for imported foods.

Allergens in food were the leading cause for recalls in 2025, accounting for 45.6% of all recalls.

Key stats from the report include:

• There were 57 consumer-level recalls in 2025.
• Allergens were the leading cause of recalls (26).
• Milk was the allergen that triggered the most recalls (9).
• 17 recalls were due to physical contamination.
• 6 recalls were due to biological contamination.
• 37 recalls were initiated from domestically produced foods.
• 20 recalls were from imported foods.

For more information, visit Ministry for Primary Industries | NZ Government

Image credit: iStock.com/Zakharova_Natalia