The European Commission has today (21 October) introduced measures to reduce the risk of dioxin contamination in food and feed.
This follows the dioxin scare in January where around 3,000 German farms were forced to close as a result of liquid egg contamination.
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The measures include feed businesses that process crude vegetable oils, manufacture products derived from oils of vegetable origin and blend fats will have to be approved and not just registered by authorities.
Fats intended for feed and food will now have to be segregated during their production and transport from fats intended for technical use. An EU plan with mandatory minimum testing for dioxin depending on the risk inherent to the products will also be introduced.
All laboratories are obliged to directly notify the competent authorities of any excessive findings of dioxin.
EU health and consumer commissioner John Dalli said: “The decision taken today is the EU’s response to last winter’s dioxin crisis. We had promised to act and the implementation of what was adopted today will result in additional security along the food and feed chain. It will further contribute to our already solid food safety system in the EU.”
These measures will avoid food recalls from the market and significant financial costs to the consumers and industries.
