EU states asked to detain shipments of pork products

EXPORTS: THE EUROPEAN Commission has told EU states to detain all shipments of Irish pork and processed pork products but says…

EXPORTS:THE EUROPEAN Commission has told EU states to detain all shipments of Irish pork and processed pork products but says there is no need to impose a Europe-wide ban.

"Member states are requested to detain pork meat and products from Ireland and to control for the presence of dioxin and dioxin-like PCBs ," said EU health commissioner Androulla Vassiliou yesterday at a press conference.

Ms Vassiliou said the pork contamination outbreak would be discussed at a meeting of chief veterinary officers from all 27 member states tomorrow.

Officials from member states affected by the contamination held their first emergency meeting yesterday, where they discussed what composite pork products needed to be recalled. These are products that contain small quantities of pork such as pizzas, which have already been recalled in Ireland but may not have been recalled in other EU states.

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Ms Vassiliou said Irish pork products had been exported to 12 EU countries - Belgium, Britain, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Sweden and the Netherlands - and nine economies outside the bloc - Canada, Japan, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, China and Hong Kong, and the US.

A commission spokeswoman again praised the Irish authority's initial response to the crisis. "We can say the measures taken have been fairly exhaustive," she said. "The measures that the Irish authorities have taken are considered as sufficient at this stage."

The commission says it will also monitor closely the results of scientific tests on Irish beef products that originate from farms that may also have used contaminated feed.

The EU has the power to impose an EU-wide ban on Irish pork or beef products if it feels that the health of European or third-country consumers is at risk. In certain emergency circumstances a ban on food products can be imposed within a matter of hours under EU food safety rules.

However, one senior EU health official said so far the Irish authority's response to the crisis had been exemplary. "We only consider a ban if the national authorities don't handle a problem properly. The measures the Irish have taken so far are very strong."

China said yesterday it had placed a ban on the import of Irish pork and feed, and had recalled 2,000 tonnes of pork imported since September 1st.

Singapore and South Korea also suspended the import and sale of all Irish pork products.