Brussels, 01/07/2002 (Agence Europe) - Community legislation setting limits on presence of dioxin in food and feed enter into force on Monday 1 July. The regulation targets dioxin levels in food and animal feed and was adopted by the Council in November 2001 (see EUROPE 29 November 2001). This legislation sets legally binding limits on the presence of dioxin in food and animal feed. Council has conceded some derogation for Finland and Sweden for fish and fish products consumed on the domestic market until 2006.
Maximum limits for dioxin in food are as follows: 5.1.1 Meat and meat products originating from ruminants (3 pg per gram of produce, Poultry and farmed game (2 pg/g), pigs (1 pg/g), Liver and derived products (6 pg/g), muscle meat of fish and fishery products (4 pg/g), milk (3 pg/g) and milk products, including butter fat, Hen eggs and egg products (3 pg/g), animal fat - from ruminants (3 pg/g), from poultry and farmed game (2 pg/g), from pigs (1 pg/g), mixed animal fat (0.75 pg/g), fish oil (2 pg/g). Limits in animal feed are: vegetable oil 0.75 ng, minerals 1.0 ng, animal fat, including milk fat and egg fat 2.0 ng, other land animal products including milk and milk products and eggs and egg products.0.75 ng, fish oil 6 ng, fish, other aquatic animals, their products and by-products with the exception of fish oil1.25 ng, Commissioner David Byrne, responsible for Health and Consumer Protection, stressed that the new dioxin limits in food and feed must be implemented vigorously from next week onwards: "These measures are a key element of the comprehensive strategy of the Commission to improve the safety of feed and food in response to the dioxin contamination problems of the past. Very few countries in this world have any binding limits for the presence of dioxin in place. Thus, the EU is paving the way forward to improved public health protection."