WORLD> Europe
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WORLD> Europe
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Tainted Irish pork may have reached 25 nations
(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-12-08 09:44 The Irish Association of Pigmeat Processors said the contaminated pig feed came from one supplier and the source had been contained. Experts also said the risk to consumers was low. "These compounds take a long time to accumulate in the body, so a relatively short period of exposure would have little impact on the total body burden," said Professor Alan Boobis, toxicologist at Imperial College London. "One would have to be exposed to high levels for a long period of time before there would be a health risk." Irish officials compared the case to a contamination scare in Belgian poultry in 1999, which has not been found to have had any negative health effects. They added that pork products would return to the shelves within days. The European Commission said Ireland had acted well and quickly in recalling all locally produced pork products. But people in Dublin were worried. Teresa Moran, 57, a careworker and mother of five, said: "I have two pieces of pork in the freezer and I'm afraid of my life to touch them. I don't know what we are going to do about the ham for Christmas. We'll just have to wait and see." Ireland's Food Minister Trevor Sargent said the problem may originate with by-products of baking that are dried to be used as animal feed. The fuel used in the drying process should be a food-grade oil. "We do have our suspicions this time that the oil being used was not food grade and therefore may have led to the contamination which has caused such a crisis throughout the industry but only affecting a small amount of pork." |
