For 4 of the top 15 origins, one EU country files most border rejections

Border rejections of a given origin are often filed by one EU member state. For 4 of the 15 origins with the most EU border rejections since October 2023, a single member state filed more than half: Greece filed all 127 of Sudan's, Latvia 87% of Russia's, Greece 77% of Nigeria's and France 59% of Kenya's. Turkey, the most-rejected origin, is split: Bulgaria filed 317 of its 923 (34%).

This is for importers, QA teams and journalists who read an origin's RASFF record and want to know what is behind the number. The short answer: part of an origin's record is geography. It shows which EU borders the goods cross, not only what the goods are.

Which member state rejects which origin

Border rejections only, 1 October 2023 to 21 September 2026.

Two groups stand out. The large, diversified exporters (India, China, Egypt) are rejected across 22 to 27 member states and no single state files more than a fifth. The concentrated origins usually ship one product through one entry point: all of Greece's rejections of Sudan and Nigeria are sesame seeds, France's rejections of Kenya are almost all beans (57 of 58), Germany's rejections of Brazil are poultry (75 of 78), and the Netherlands' rejections of the United States are all peanuts and other nuts.

The reverse: some member states mostly reject one origin

Bulgaria is the outlier. 317 of its 363 border rejections in the window were Turkish, and over its whole record the figure is 1,064 of 1,164. No other member state comes close to that dependence on one origin.

Turkey: the product depends on the border

Turkey's EU-wide record is really several records. Where the rejection was filed changes what was rejected:

• Fresh peppers: 102 border rejections, 101 of them filed by Bulgaria. Across the rest of the EU, Turkish peppers were rejected at the border once (Croatia). The pepper page shows them under increased official controls at 20% identity and physical checks.
• Lemons: 34 of 41 filed by Bulgaria.
• Figs (mostly dried): 492 rejections spread across France (180), Italy (84), Bulgaria (81), Germany (64) and the Netherlands (23).

Outside Bulgaria, 68% of Turkey's border rejections are figs and almost none are peppers. At Bulgaria, peppers (32%) outnumber figs (26%).

What this does and does not show

RASFF records where a rejection was notified. It does not publish how many consignments each border post received or checked. So these figures cannot tell you whether one member state inspects more strictly than another. A state that files many rejections of an origin may simply receive most of that origin's shipments. Treat any claim about differing strictness between member states as unsupported by this data.

What this means if you…

• …import: an origin's EU-wide count mixes the results at many entry points. If your goods enter somewhere else, look at the member-state split for your product before assuming the headline applies to you. For Turkish peppers, 101 of 102 rejections were at Bulgaria's border; through every other member state combined, the three-year record is one rejection. That may say more about where Turkish peppers enter than about their quality, so check your own entry point rather than reading it as a cleaner route.
• …work in QA or compliance: the member-state page for your entry point shows the rejections your own consignments are exposed to, with the hazards cited. Use it next to the origin page, not instead of it.
• …write about food safety: "Origin X is among the most rejected" is partly a statement about one member state's border. Name which state filed the rejections. If a single state filed most of them, a change in its volume or testing moves the EU-wide number for that origin.

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Method. 4,537 RASFF border rejection notifications validated between 1 October 2023 and 21 September 2026, the same 12-quarter window as the origin pages. Alerts and information notifications are excluded. "Member state" is the notifying country. A notification naming two origins counts for each (7 notifications). Product splits for Turkey use the notification subject. Bulgaria's all-time totals are from its member-state page, which covers 2018 onward.

Watch Bulgaria, the member state that files most of Turkey's border rejections: