February 28, 2011

EU says no further danger from German dioxin contamination

EU's health authorities have declared this week that they see no further danger from an alert in Germany following the discovery of dioxin in animal feed, meat and eggs in early January.

An EU health alert on January 3 when German officials said animal feed tainted with dioxin had been fed to poultry and pigs, contaminating eggs, poultry meat and pork at the affected farms. Several countries later banned some German meat imports.

"The member states, meeting in the framework of the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health, recognised that the contamination incident is fully under control by the German authorities and there is no risk that potentially contaminated food and feed are placed on the EU market or dispatched to Third countries," an EU statement said.

It added: "All potentially contaminated feed fat, compound feed and farms having received potentially contaminated feed have been blocked by way of strict precaution pending the outcome of dioxin analysis."

Right now still 49 farms are sealed off from the 4,760 German farms at the height of the alert.

Germany's government on January 19 announced a package of measures to raise animal feed production standards including a new licensing system for makers of oils and fats for animal feed use.

Prosecutors in Germany are still investigating the cause of the contamination and specifically whether industrial fats and feed company Harles and Jentzsch distributed fatty acids meant for industrial paper production to animal feed processors.

The Russian government would not lift its ban on German pork imports before late March, according to reports on February 18.