RE: Belgian dioxin

[Alan Watson <alanwatson@gn.apc.org>]

 Peter Vanhoutte wrote:

>Indeed, the sludge was put directly into the food supply.


This piece from Reuters may be of interest:

EU TO STUDY FRENCH USE OF SEWAGE IN ANIMAL FEED.

(Reuters) - EU experts are expected on 13/09/99 to discuss alarming 
reports that France and other countries may be putting human sewage 
sludge into animal feed. The EU's influential Standing Committee for 
Animal Nutrition (SCAN) will discuss the subject on 14-15/09/99 and 
consider whether current EU animal feed rules need to be tightened up. 
The EU decided to look into the subject last month following media 
reports in France, which suggested feed had been tainted with dangerous 
pesticides, heavy metals and human waste.

EU veterinary officials carried out a series of inspections to verify 
these claims and drafted an advisory report. Although this has yet to be 
made public it is thought to be critical of the French authorities. 
France has denied most of the allegations and said it was aware of only 
one incident at the end of last year where animal waste; and not human 
waste had entered the food chain. But it is not the only country under 
suspicion.

The Commission has also written to Germany and the Netherlands following 
similar media reports and officials say it may organise inspection visits 
to those countries too. SCAN is also expected to discuss broader 
proposals to overhaul feed legislation, including drawing up a negative 
list of ingredients for animal feed following the Belgian dioxin-in-food 
scare. It will also discuss the desirability of unilateral safety 
measures taken by the Netherlands to tighten animal feed controls and by 
Sweden to ban the use of four antibiotic growth promoters in fodder.


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