Romain Rouillard / Photo credit: ROY PHILIPPE / HEMIS.FR / HEMIS VIA AFP 18:31 pm, July 05, 2023

The site Rappel Conso sounds the alarm about some Charentais melons sold in Lidl stores in the south-west of France between June 10 and 29. Consumers are therefore invited to destroy the fruit concerned or to return it to one of the points of sale until 17 July.

Beware of some Charentais melons sold at Lidl. The government website Rappel Conso, which lists all products that may present a health hazard, warns about these fruits marketed in Lidl stores in Lot-et-Garonne, Landes and Pyrénées-Atlantiques. These melons, sold between June 10 and 29, would contain too high a level of pesticides.

#RappelProduit
Charentais melon - unbranded

Risks: Exceeding the authorized limits of pesticides

Reason: exceeding the maximum residue limit on the molecule "flonicamide"https://t.co/r5hQaauCz2pic.twitter.com/pzL4ztwRTS

— RappelConso (@RappelConso) June 30, 2023

More specifically, these fruits would be contaminated with flonicamide, a chemical intended to eliminate aphids, says the newspaper Sud-Ouest. Consumers are therefore advised not to consume the products in question. It is recommended to destroy them or return them to the point of sale. The recall process will end on Monday, July 17. The lots concerned are as follows: L23-01, L23-02, L23-03, L23-04. The list of supermarkets where these melons have been marketed is available here.

These recalls take place at regular intervals

This type of procedure occurs quite frequently, about twice a week on average. The alert can be given by the manufacturer, the distributor or the Rappel Conso site and some stores even go so far as to contact the customers concerned directly via the files of the security cards. During the end-of-year celebrations last year, several products among the essentials of the Christmas meal - capon, foie gras among others - had undergone a recall procedure. At the beginning of the year, it was the turn of a handful of shellfish (mussels, whelk, clams) to be pointed out, because they contained traces of norovirus.

More recently, the site Rappel Conso drew the attention of the consumer to boxes of Lustucru pasta, potentially responsible for cases of listeriosis.