Ecuador — Fish and Fish Products — Tuna
Ecuador received 6 RASFF border-rejection notifications in Tuna, part of Fish and Fish Products between 2023-Q4 and 2026-Q3. Volume is roughly flat year-on-year. The most-cited issue is mercury. The list below gives each of these 7 rejections by date and RASFF reference, with the country that notified it and the hazard found; 1 carries the laboratory result and 2 say what happened to the consignment.
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Key figures
If you import tuna from Ecuador
- Chance a consignment is opened at the EU border
- Not on the EU's increased-checks list, so only member states' routine, risk-based checks apply (rates not published).
- If it is rejected
- Held, final fate not recorded 50%; re-dispatched 33%; not stated 17%. A re-dispatched lot can be sold elsewhere, a treated or sorted one can be released once it complies, and a destroyed one is lost.
- Where rejections happen
- Spain (3), Poland (2), Portugal (1), of 6 border rejections in the last 3 years.
- Test for before shipping
- mercury (1).
The EU does not publish how many consignments are shipped, so no page can state a true probability of rejection; these are the figures that are published.
Quarterly rejections, last 12 quarters
Show the numbers
| Quarter | Notifications |
|---|---|
| 2023-Q4 | 0 |
| 2024-Q1 | 0 |
| 2024-Q2 | 0 |
| 2024-Q3 | 2 |
| 2024-Q4 | 0 |
| 2025-Q1 | 1 |
| 2025-Q2 | 0 |
| 2025-Q3 | 1 |
| 2025-Q4 | 0 |
| 2026-Q1 | 0 |
| 2026-Q2 | 0 |
| 2026-Q3 | 2 |
Recent rejections
- 2026.8103 The tuna in a sun-dried tomato dressing present organoleptically altered lesions- swollen cans (bombage) Notified by Poland. Re-dispatched.
- 2026.8080 The tuna in a sun-dried tomato dressing present organoleptically altered lesions-swollen cans (bombage) Notified by Poland. Re-dispatched.
- 2025.5216 Rotura de cadena de frío en lomos de atún de Ecuador / Breaking the cold chain in tuna loins from Ecuador Notified by Spain.
- 2025.1483 Mercury in tuna (Thunnus albacares) Notified by Portugal. Result 1,2 ± 0,1 (limit 1,0 mg/kg - ppm). mercury
- 2024.6727 Ruptura de la cadena de frío en atún de Ecuador. Cold chain break in tuna from Ecuador. Notified by Spain.
- 2024.5973 Ruptura de la cadena de frío en atún de Ecuador. Break in the cold chain in tuna from Ecuador. Notified by Spain.
- 2022.6630 Conservas atún sin Certificado Sanitario Oficial de Ecuador / Canned tuna without Official Health Certificate from Ecuador Notified by Spain.
Found on the EU market: alerts and information notifications
Besides border rejections, 10 notifications since 2020 concerned tuna from Ecuador found after entering the EU — 3 alerts, 7 information notifications. They are not part of the rejection figures or rates above, which measure border controls.
How they were found: official control on the market 40%, at the EU border 30%, consumer complaint or illness 20%, company's own check 10%.
Show the numbers
| Year | Total | Alerts | Information notifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2022 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2024 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2025 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2026 to date | 1 | 0 | 1 |
- 2026.7440 info: attentionPresenza di Istamina oltre il limite in Tonno (Thunnus albacares) - tranci decongelati /Histamine above legal limits in thawed tuna produced in Italy with raw material from Spain Notified by Italy. Consumer complaint or illness, reached the market. Result 1640,3+/- 169.0 (limit 200 mg/kg - ppm). histamine
- 2025.5253 alertHistamine above legal limits in tuna from Ecuador Notified by Italy. Consumer complaint or illness, reached the market. Result 5900 (limit 200; 400 in 2 s.u. mg/kg - ppm). histamine
- 2025.3218 alertcadmium in canned tuna, from Ecuador Notified by Netherlands. Company's own check, reached the market. Result 0,15 (limit 0.10 mg/kg - ppm). cadmium
- 2024.5899 info: attentionmercury in a tuna loin dish // Mercurio en preparado de lomo de atún procedente de Ecuador a través de España Notified by France. Official control on the market, reached the market. Result 1.7 +/- 0.3. mercury
- 2024.3473 info: attentionCadmium in tuna from Equador Notified by France. Official control on the market, reached the market, re-dispatched. Result 0.16 (limit 0.10 mg/kg - ppm). cadmium
- 2023.8703 info: attentionmercury in tuna loin Notified by France. Official control on the market, reached the market. Result 2.0 (limit 1.0 mg/kg - ppm). mercury
- 2023.7440 info: attentionmercury over the limit in defrozen tuna loins from Ecuador, via Spain Notified by Italy. Official control on the market, reached the market. Result 1.6 +/- 0.3 (limit 1 mg/kg - ppm). mercury
- 2022.7288 alertMercury in tuna loins from Ecuador Notified by Portugal. At the EU border, reached the market. Result 1.8 ± 0.2 (limit 1.0 mg/kg - ppm). mercury
- 2021.5596 info: attentionReturn of tuna pieces in sunflower oil from Ecuador without import control Notified by Germany. At the EU border, reached the market, re-dispatched.
- 2021.2529 info: attentionCadmium MRL in Canned tuna from Ecuador Notified by Poland. At the EU border, reached the market. Result 0,142 ± 0,020 (limit 0,1 mg/kg - ppm). cadmium
Data and downloads
Download all 17 entries (CSV) — every notification behind this page, border rejections and those found on the market, with how each was found and what was done.
The file holds entries up to 2026-09-14. To get new ones for Ecuador by email, watch Ecuador.
Ecuador country report since 2020 — all notification types, not just border rejections →