Tainted animal feed found in France and Denmark

France and Denmark on Monday became the latest countries affected by Germany’s tainted food scare, in which pig and chicken feed were contaminated with dioxin and traces were found in exported food products. Although the levels of the chemical detected in France and Denmark were considered low, they indicated that the contamination was not contained, as previously indicated, to Germany, the Netherlands and Britain, where food with egg products reached store shelves.

“In Denmark, these products were used for breeder hens, which are not in fact marketed,” Frédéric Vincent, health and consumer spokesman at the European Commission, said in Brussels in a news briefing broadcast Monday. “In the case of France, in the lot exported, apparently the concentration of dioxin was lower than the maximum authorized concentration allowed in E.U. law for animal feed.”Mr. Vincent did not say whether animals had been exposed.

In Berlin, the government tried to show that it was in control so as to avoid any hysteria or speculation that the dioxin was becoming a major health hazard. “There’s no reason to panic but also no reason to relax yet either,” Ilse Aigner, minister for consumer protection and agriculture, said Monday at a news conference. “The people who did this were irresponsible and unscrupulous.”

Ms. Aigner held a crisis meeting with regional farming organizations and animal food producers and agreed to examine new measures to improve food safety standards and prevent another health scare. She called the meeting as the regional health and agricultural authorities adopted different positions after carrying out inspections. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.