Germany vows action after dioxin scare

GERMANY: Germany's agriculture minister vowed Sunday to get tough after a dioxin poisoning scare prompted other countries to ban some imports on farm products, and put thousands of farmers under severe strain.

"This is a big blow for our farmers. They have totally innocently been dragged into this situation by the sick machinations of a few people," Ilse Aigner told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.

"It is tough to shake off the suspicion from the information that we have so far that criminal energy has been combined with an alarming unscrupulousness. "The judiciary has to clamp down hard."

Police last week raided a firm in northern Germany suspected of supplying up to 3,000 tonnes of fatty acids meant only for industrial use contaminated with cancer-causing dioxins to some 25 animal feed makers.

These companies then delivered reportedly up to 150,000 tonnes of contaminated feed to farms mostly those producing eggs and rearing poultry and pigs across the country.

Germany banned some 4,700 farms from selling any products while authorities performed tests, destroying more than 100,000 eggs and launching recall actions. Some 500 dairy farms were given the all-clear on Saturday.

The German government has moved to curb fears by saying tests conducted so far on eggs and poultry meat indicate that there is no immediate risk to public health.

Berlin, Sunday, AFP