Analysis of foreign bodies present in European food using data from Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF)

•1446 reported incidents of physical contamination in Europe were analyzed.•Regional distribution shows that the most notifications come from Eastern Europe.•The top three foreign bodies are pests, glass and various types of metals.•Foreign bodies occur in fruits and vegetables, nuts, and confectionery products.

This paper contains a comprehensive review of different types of foreign matter reported in Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) during the period 1998-2015. It provides information on 1446 incidents of foreign matter contamination discussed and mined in terms of types of foreign bodies, food products involved and geographic distribution within indicated European regions.Regional distribution shows that the scattering of number of notifications is rather similar between regions, with the most notifications coming from Eastern Europe. The top three foreign bodies are pests, glass and metals. Main food categories in which foreign bodies occur are fruits and vegetables, nuts, nut products, confectionery and bakery products.