Germany Investigates Dioxin-Tainted Eggs
German officials have launched an investigation into an animal feed supplier that allegedly distributed a dioxin-tainted additive to 25 feed manufacturers, who in turn sold products to hundreds of poultry, pork and egg farms in Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia, Saxony, and Brandenburg. According to media sources, Uetersen-based Harles & Jentzsch GmbH made its additive from mixed fatty acids approved only for industrial use and obtained from a biodiesel company. The Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV) has since reported that some additive samples contained 77 times the approved limit for dioxin, an industrial byproduct allegedly linked to cancer, although the agency has not received any health notifications related to consumer products.
The revelation has drawn international attention, with South Korea and Slovakia blocking German pork and poultry imports after 136,000 tainted eggs were sold to the Netherlands. As a precaution, BMELV has apparently halted sales at approximately 4,700 farms and ordered the culling of 8,000 chickens. “This strategy is resulting in a high number of closed farms, which in the course of testing and clarification in the coming days will be reduced,” German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner was quoted as saying.
Meanwhile, German farmers have evidently demanded compensation for their losses, estimating them at approximately US$79 million per week. In addition, as one BMELV spokesperson told the press, the prosecutors’ search of the implicated firm suggests “a high level of illegal activity. There are indications that the company was not even officially registered, in order not to expose itself to official controls.” See BarfBlog, January 3, 2011; Reuters, January 4, 2011; BBC News, Spiegel Online and The Local, January 5, 2011; EUROPA Memo, January 6, 2011; and BBC News, January 7, 2011.
