Ethylene oxide was banned in Regulation 1107/2009, however, via the EU's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), alerts have been received about products from non-EU countries contaminated with ethylene oxide. From 2021, ethylene oxide-related awareness and controls have increased in the EU.

Since it is difficult to determine whether the presence of ethylene oxide results from sterilization or other use, in the EU from September 2022 the compound is not permitted in additives above the detection limit, regardless of its origin. The current detection limit is set at 0.1 mg/kg (the combined presence of ethylene oxide and 2-chloroethanol), but may change in the future due to technological developments.

At the same time, certain food outbreaks may arise in connection with the restrictions. While previously certain bacteria were less able to survive/proliferate due to the antimicrobial effect of ethylene oxide, the pathogenic risk increases with the withdrawal of the disinfectant. For this reason, it would be necessary to develop alternative procedures (e.g. heat treatment or biocides) in the affected products.

In one analysis, for example, RASFF alerts related to sesame seeds were examined, where the agent of concern was either Salmonella or ethylene oxide.

The EU limit for ethylene oxide and its metabolite, 2-chloroethanol, for sesame seeds is 0.05 mg/kg, equal to the detection limit. However, in many parts of the world there is a lighter limit value, e.g. in the United States 7 mg/kg. In the past, the presence of ethylene oxide was often detected in the case of imported sesame seeds (especially from India), and in 2020 they began to increase control.

As a result, the originating countries of imported sesame seeds changed drastically, and while the number of RASFF notifications dealing with the ethylene oxide content of sesame seeds peaked at the end of 2020, the largest number of RASFF notifications regarding sesame seeds criticized for Salmonella appeared in September 2022.

This highlights the complexity of the impact of regulatory decisions.

In relation to ethylene oxide, news appeared at the end of 2023, in which instant noodle importers in Thailand were asked to check the content of ethylene oxide in their products, after the substance was detected in ice creams popular in the EU. In Thailand, a new method for the detection of ethylene oxide was developed, which is also used by the EU.