Germany closes 4,700 farms as dioxin crisis widens

by Audrey Kauffmann

BERLIN, Jan 7, 2011 (AFP) - German officials said Friday they had shut 4,700 farms and destroyed more than 100,000 eggs, as a widening crisis over tainted animal feed rocked the country, with authorities suspecting illegal activity.

A spokesman for German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner told a regular news conference: “4,709 farms and businesses are currently closed,” including 4,468 in the state of Lower Saxony, northwest Germany.

They will be closed until they are found to be clear of contamination with dioxin, a toxic chemical compound that can cause cancer if ingested in large doses, and will not be allowed to make any deliveries, Holger Eichele said.

“This strategy has led, as expected, to a very high number of closures, which will be reduced in the coming days as tests are carried out,” he added.

Nearly all types of farms, especially those rearing pigs, have been affected by the closures in eight of Germany’s 16 states, the agriculture ministry said. There are around 375,000 farms in Germany.

The firm Harles und Jentzsch in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein is alleged to have supplied up to 3,000 tonnes of contaminated fatty acids meant only for industrial use to around 25 animal feed makers.

Most of this 2,500 tonnes was delivered in November and December to animal feed producers in Lower Saxony, where it was used in fodder.

The Schleswig-Holstein agriculture ministry said Friday that 18 out of the 30 samples from Harles und Jentzsch that have been tested so far have shown dioxin levels above the maximum permitted dose.

One sample showed a dioxin level of 58.17 nanogrammes, 78 times over the limit. Prosecutors have launched an investigation into the affair and Eichele said that “the first indications point to a high level of illegal activity.”

The firm’s boss, Siegfried Sievert, hit back, telling Spiegel television: “We did not use any fats that were not permitted.” He said he did not know where the high levels of dioxins originated. “We are conducting tests, we are working closely with the authorities. We have been taken completely unawares,” he added.

The scandal took a new turn on Friday when authorities confirmed tests as far back as March 2010 had revealed high dioxin levels at Harles und Jentzsch, with the results only coming to light recently.

Meanwhile, German farmers were left to count the cost, as evidence began to emerge that consumers were already being scared off.

The head of the country’s farming association, Gerd Sonnleitner, told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung regional daily on Friday: “One has to assume that farmers will be losing around 40 to 60 million euros per week.”

Despite officials insisting there is no health risk, Germans appear to be already altering their purchasing habits, said Margit Beck from a chicken and egg market research firm.

There has been a “clearly noticeable” impact on the market already, Beck said, adding it was too early to give precise figures.

“There is a lot of uncertainty, both from consumers and from producers,” she told AFP. However, a survey conducted for ARD public television suggested two thirds of German consumers would not change their egg consumption, despite 100,000 eggs being destroyed as a precaution in Lower Saxony.

Only 14 percent of people said they would eat fewer eggs and four percent said they would shun eggs completely.

One German pensioner, who declined to give his name, seemed clear on the subject, however. “Dioxin is a very dangerous substance. I’ve just discussed it with my wife. I have 10 eggs at home and I’m not going to eat them now.”

“We’re going to have to do without eggs now,” he told AFP. The crisis has moved swiftly beyond Germany’s borders, with some 136,000 eggs from a suspect German farm exported at the beginning of December to the Netherlands.

And the European Commission said Thursday the hunt had also turned to Britain but the country’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) said the tainted eggs were not thought to pose a threat.

The Dutch food safety watchdog also called the health risk “minimal” on Friday.

Dioxin, a by-product of burning rubbish and industrial activities, can cause miscarriages and other health problems in humans, including cancer if consumed at high levels.