BRUSSELS — An illegal amount of dioxin has been found in pig fat at a Dutch fodder mixing firm and initial inquiries by authorities in the Netherlands have implicated the Belgian firm Profat.

It is not the first time that Profat has been linked to a dioxin scare in the agriculture food industry.

Profat was formerly known as Verkest, based in Deinze, which was at the centre of a chicken fodder dioxin scandal in 1999.

In the latest case, the heightened level of dioxin was found during a routine test on 15 December 2005, but the results of the test were only known on Tuesday.

The Belgian Federal Food Agency (FASFC) was officially informed of the findings on Wednesday and has launched an investigation into Profat’s operations.

It is investigating the suppliers and customers of Profat. All of Profat’s products have been embargoed.

The agency stressed further that no positive result for dioxins have been reported in Belgium during the same period.

“The first results from samples taken today are expected on Friday. It is not a forgone matter that the involved firm is the source of the contamination,” the agency said.

A spokeswoman for the Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority VWA said the dioxin scare represented no direct danger to public health.

“But we are first going to fully investigate that to be 100 percent certain,” she said.

[Copyright Expatica News 2006]

Subject: Belgian news