Ecuador — Fish and Fish Products
Ecuador received 10 RASFF border-rejection notifications in Fish and Fish Products between 2023-Q4 and 2026-Q3. Volume peaked at 5 in 2026-Q3, with the trend rising sharply year-on-year. The most-cited issues are cadmium and mercury. The list below gives each of these 13 rejections by date and RASFF reference, with the country that notified it and the hazard found; 2 carry the laboratory result and 6 say what happened to the consignment.
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Key figures
If you import fish and fish products 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
- Re-dispatched 60%; held, final fate not recorded 30%; not stated 10%. 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
- Poland (5), Spain (3), Portugal (2), of 10 border rejections in the last 3 years.
- Riskiest months
- September, March, July, by rejections since 2020.
- Test for before shipping
- cadmium (1), 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 | 2 |
| 2025-Q2 | 0 |
| 2025-Q3 | 1 |
| 2025-Q4 | 0 |
| 2026-Q1 | 0 |
| 2026-Q2 | 0 |
| 2026-Q3 | 5 |
By commodity, last 156 weeks
| Commodity | Rejections | 1 rejection per | Per $1B EU imports | Most-cited hazard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tuna | 6 | — | — | mercury |
| Other | 2 | — | — | — |
| Other Fish/Seafood | 1 | — | — | — |
| Squid & Octopus | 1 | — | — | cadmium |
"1 rejection per X t": tonnes of the same product imported for every one, over the same 156 weeks. A dash means fewer than 5 in the window, or under 1,000 t a year imported, too few to rate; the total row pools every product that has import tonnes on record.
Recent rejections
- 2026.8209 The goods present organoleptically altered lesions-swollen pouch (bombage) Notified by Poland. Re-dispatched.
- 2026.8103 The tuna in a sun-dried tomato dressing present organoleptically altered lesions- swollen cans (bombage) Notified by Poland. Re-dispatched.
- 2026.8096 bombage in canned fish from Ecuador Notified by Poland. Re-dispatched.
- 2026.8089 The goods present organoleptically altered lesions-swollen pouch (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.
- 2025.1491 cadmium in squids from Ecuador Notified by Portugal. Re-dispatched. Result 2,9 ± 0,5 (limit 1,0 mg/kg - ppm). cadmium
- 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.
- 2020.1199 CHEDP.ES.2020.0001147 Notified by Spain.
- 2019.3183 food - border control - consignment detained - border rejection notification - frozen anchovies - cadmium - ecuador Notified by Portugal. cadmium
Found on the EU market: alerts and information notifications
Besides border rejections, 17 notifications since 2020 concerned fish and fish products from Ecuador found after entering the EU — 5 alerts, 12 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 47%, at the EU border 29%, consumer complaint or illness 12%, company's own check 12%. 1 led to a recall from consumers.
Show the numbers
| Year | Total | Alerts | Information notifications |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2021 | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2022 | 2 | 2 | 0 |
| 2023 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2024 | 5 | 1 | 4 |
| 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
- 2024.8968 alertNiveles elevados de Hg en rodajas congeladas de marrajo (Ixurus oxyrinchus) procedentes de Ecuador // Elevated Hg levels in frozen slices of porbeagle (Ixurus oxyrinchus) from Ecuador Notified by Spain. Official control on the market, reached the market. Result 6,6 ± 1,1 mg/kg de MERCURIO (limit 1 mg/kg - ppm). mercury
- 2024.8367 info: attentionHigher sulfite content in frozen raw shrimp Notified by France. Company's own check, re-dispatched. Result 180 (limit 150 /mg). sulphite
- 2024.6690 info: attentionHg in swordfish from Ecuador Notified by Italy. At the EU border. Result 1.87 +/- 0.57 (limit 1.0 mg/kg - ppm). mercury
- 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
Data and downloads
Download all 30 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 2026-09-16. To get new ones for Ecuador by email, watch Ecuador.
Ecuador country report since 2020 — all notification types, not just border rejections →