more on Belgium

[Tom Webster <twebster@bu.edu>]

Any comments from our European correpsondents?

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Authorities identify second company as source of food contamination

By Raf Casert, Associated Press, 06/22/99 12:20

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) Investigators identified a second company Tuesday as
a source of cancer-causing dioxin in some Belgian food, raising fears that
not all potentially tainted poultry, pork and beef products have been
removed from supermarket shelves.

The government had been working on the assumption that the dioxin
contamination originated from the Verkest company. They traced the
company's products to farms and on to consumer outlets, banning all sales
of suspect meat, eggs and other products to eliminate health risks.

On Tuesday, however, the two heads of Verkest were released and the head of
another animal feed fat producer was arrested.

''The contamination has started with Fogra,'' a company 120 miles away from
Verkest in Bertrix in southern Belgium, prosecution spokeswoman Nicole De
Roeck said.

It was unclear Tuesday whether Verkest was still implicated in the dioxin
contamination. Despite their release, fraud charges are still pending
against the company's two officials. Authorities said they discovered
tampering with animal fat, though there was insufficient evidence to keep
them behind bars.

''My two clients have nothing to do with the core issue of the case. They
have nothing to do with the dioxin contamination,'' defense lawyer Hans
Rieder said.

Tuesday's announcement raised concerns that not all potentially
contaminated food has been removed from supermarket shelves at home and
abroad.

''If there is another source, we have to start from scratch again,'' said
Noel Devisch, head of the Farmers Union. ''In that case it would be an even
bigger tragedy.''

Belgian farmers have held protests in the streets for days over the
increasing financial losses they are suffering because export markets are
effectively closed, either by government decrees or by lack of consumer
confidence.

Belgian authorities were investigating how Fogra's distribution network
differed from that of Verkest.

''It is known that Fogra also delivered to foreign firms and we have to
check that,'' Health Minister Luc Van den Bossche told VRT public radio.

German food safety inspectors destroyed two shipments of Belgian meat after
finding above-limit levels of dioxin, officials said Tuesday.

A load of Belgian chicken confiscated in Hesse state had more than five
times the legal amount of dioxin, health authorities said. Belgian pork
seized
in Rhineland-Palatinate also had more dioxin residue than allowed under
German law.

The European Union has started legal proceedings against Belgium for
waiting a month before warning the EU about the contamination.

The Commission, the executive agency of the 15-nation EU, said Belgium
didn't take sufficient steps to ensure tainted food would not be distributed
to consumers or exported.

It also said the country failed to respect EU veterinary controls and did
not comply with internal market rules about the transport of live animals
and
animal products.

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