FSA Update on beef from Northern Ireland - 23 December 2008

On Monday 22nd December the FSA published a further update on beef from Northern Ireland:

The Food Standards Agency is today advising consumers not to be concerned about eating beef from Northern Ireland. Dioxin results from three Northern Irish herds affected by contaminated feed have been received, they exceed permitted limits but the risk to public health remains very low. Any cattle and beef that have been withheld since Tuesday 9 December will not enter the food chain.
http://www.food.gov.uk/news/newsarchive/2008/dec/beefni 

Dioxin Update 9th December 2008

AIC understands that today 9th December the Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland has lifted restrictions on pig farms in the province having found no evidence of dioxin contamination. For more details see:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7772963.stm

FEFAC has issued to member associations a statement by the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food entitled: FSAI confirm no risk to Public Health from beef:

G08-109-FSAI confirm no risk to Public Health from beef    (14kb)

It has also come to light that a number of cattle farms in Northern Ireland have been supplied contaminated feed, and are now under restriction. For more details see:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/7772885.stm  

Dioxin in Irish pig products 8th December 2008

Following the recall of Irish pigmeat products from the supply chain on concern of its contamination with dioxin and dioxin-like PCB's, the source of the issue has been identified as a waste food recycling operation, Millstream Power Recycling, in Southern Ireland.

Millstream Power Recycling dries bakery products and supplies them directly to farm for home-mixing. The most likely source of the issue is that the operation has used contaminated drier fuel, but this is yet to be confirmed.

The issue has affected farmers who supply about 10% of the total pigmeat produced in (Southern) Ireland and a number of beef producers. However, these animals are slaughtered in a small number of processing plants that also deal with 80% of national pork production. It has not been possible to distinguish between potentially contaminated and non-contaminated product and therefore as a precautionary measure the Irish authorities have removed all pigmeat products. The majority of pig farms are unaffected and therefore uncontaminated product should be available in the near future.

Under Regulation 183/2005 on feed hygiene, commercial feed manufacturers have been subject to obligatory HACCP rules that have been in place since 1st January 2006. The legislation also includes rules to improve the operational standards of feed businesses, and traceability measures to ensure that in the case of a feed contamination incident feeds can be easily traced and recalled if necessary.  UFAS, FEMAS and TASCC, the AIC feed assurances schemes, embrace the provisions of this legislation and thus facilitate it compliance.

The operation in question is not a member of an AIC trade assurance scheme. We are aware that the farm assurance schemes are currently investigating the issue.

FEFAC has produced a press release on the issue which can be accessed using the following link:

http://www.fefac.org/file.pdf?FileID=16424

The Irish FSA website contains useful additional information:

http://www.fsai.ie/industry/hottopics/industry_topics_dioxins_pcbs.asp