Ireland Recalls Pork Products After Dioxin Test

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Ireland recalls pork products after dioxin test

By RAPHAEL G. SATTER – 11 hours ago

LONDON (AP) — European supermarkets were ordered to clear their shelves of

Irish bacon, ham and sausages Sunday after authorities announced that Irish pork

products had been tainted with a potentially cancer-causing chemical.

Health officials across the continent warned their consumers not to eat Irish

pork after the discovery that dioxins had been in some of the pigs' feed for

months. Irish government officials described the recall — which affects all

pig products produced since Sept. 1 — as a precautionary move, but farmers

called it a nightmare for Ireland's 450 million euro ($570 million) pig

industry.

" We're actually reeling in shock at the moment at the scale of this

disaster, " Tim Cullinan, an official with the Irish Farmers Association and a

pig

farmer, told Irish state radio RTE. " It couldn't have come at worse time, the

weeks

leading up to Christmas. ... It's a nightmare, to be honest, " he said.

Ireland's Food Safety Authority said the dioxin made its way into the food

chain after pig feed from a producer was tainted with industrial oil. While only

10 percent of the country's pig meat was affected, that was processed and

mixed in with other meat, resulting in widespread contamination.

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