Brussels, 07/01/2011 (Agence Europe) - Will anything positive come out of the scandal of dioxin-contaminated eggs and meat from Germany? The Commission is planning to use the new scandal to beef up dioxin controls in the animal feed chain. Meanwhile, investigations are continuing to highlight the exact causes and repercussions of the poisoning which has already spread beyond Germany's borders because potentially contaminated eggs have been exported for processing to the Netherlands and then exported on to the United Kingdom for use in the manufacture of food for human beings (see EUROPE 10288). On Wednesday 7 January, the director general of Germany's federal ministry in charge of such matters was in Brussels for meetings with the Health and Consumer Protection Directorate-General at the European Commission.
John Dalli, Commissioner for Health and Consumer Policy, commented: “The proper management of the dioxin incident in Germany is of utmost importance for the Commission and must be pursued with urgency and effectiveness. I contacted yesterday afternoon (Ed: 5 January) Mrs. Ilse Aigner, German Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture & Consumer Protection, and was given the latest state of play of the situation. My services and the German authorities are in permanent contact and the level of cooperation is very good. The Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed as well as the traceability mechanisms in place at EU level have shown their effectiveness. In the coming weeks, I will explore with our EU partners and stakeholders ways to further strengthen our monitoring processes of dioxin in feed.” A new meeting with animal feed and biofuel manufacturers is scheduled for next week to discuss the utility of EU legislation and/or voluntary measures to avoid such industrial fatty acids contaminating fats for animal feed in the future. As at Wednesday, 4,709 farms had been isolated in Germany, 4,500 of them in Lower Saxony. It is too soon to have the results of tests carried out by the Dutch authorities on the suspect batch of liquid egg. (A.N./transl.fl)