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2008 Irish pork crisis
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2008 Irish pork crisis
The Irish pork crisis of 2008 was a dioxin contamination incident in Ireland that led to an international recall of pork products from Ireland produced between September and early December of that year. It was disclosed in early December 2008 that contaminated animal feed supplied by one Irish manufacturer to thirty-seven beef farms and nine pig farms across the Republic of Ireland, and eight beef farms and one dairy farm in Northern Ireland, had caused the contamination of pork with between 80 and 200 times the EU's recommended limit for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs i.e. 0.2 ng/g TEQ fat (0.2 ppb). The Food Safety Authority of Ireland moved on 6 December to recall from the market all Irish pork products dating from 1 September 2008 to that date. The contaminated feed that was supplied to forty-five beef farms across the island was judged to have caused no significant public health risk, accordingly no recall of beef was ordered. Also affected was a dairy farm in Northern Ireland; some milk supplies were withdrawn from circulation. Processors refused to resume the slaughter of pigs until they received financial compensation.
Pork supplies to a total of twenty-three countries were affected, thirteen within the European Union and the remainder outside in an area across at least three continents. Countries affected include: Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, the UK, France, Portugal, Cyprus, Romania, Russia, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, China, South Korea, Japan and Republic of Singapore.
It is now suspected that the oil that contaminated the offending pig feed with dioxins came from County Tyrone. Some reports suggest the recovery of the Irish pork market would take up to a decade. The Irish government has been criticised over its handling of the incident.
On 18 December 2008, it was disclosed that the beef samples from the affected farms had dioxin levels between 100 and 400 times the legal limit. However the Irish authorities insisted that the threat to public health from Irish beef products, even though the dioxin levels were higher than in the affected pork, was insignificant. On 25 January 2009, Chinese quarantine authorities seized over 23 tonnes of frozen and contaminated Irish pork which was imported by a company in the city of Suzhou in October 2008. On 28 January 2009, Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture was told by Indaver Ireland managing director John Ahern that Ireland could "sleepwalk" into another pork crisis if the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, continued with his plans to commence widespread use of mechanical biological treatment.
On the evening of 6 December, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland ordered the recall, withdrawal and destruction of all Irish pork products dating back to 1 September. It was announced that "dioxins & dioxin like PCBs", a group of highly toxic synthetic halogenated organic compounds, had been discovered in pork at levels between 80 and 200 times the EU's recommended safety limits. This contamination, which was first realised on 1 December, came about as a result of contamination of pig feed. The positive results for dioxins and dioxin like PCBs were confirmed on the afternoon of 6 December and announced within hours. The Irish general public were advised to destroy all their purchased pork products as Ireland's Department of Agriculture and the Food Safety Authority had initiated an investigation. Contaminated feed was used at as many as forty-six farms in the Republic of Ireland of which thirty-seven raised cattle for beef and nine produced pork. Additionally, contaminated feed was used on eight cattle farms in Northern Ireland. Beef products, from cattle who may have been fed contaminated feed, were judged to be safe and were not recalled from market. One cattle farm in Northern Ireland used the feed for beef and dairy cattle, and milk from this farm was removed from the food supply.
Following the discovery, the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen and the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith attended talks at the Department of Agriculture. Alongside them were the Minister for Health, Mary Harney and Ministers of State Trevor Sargent and Mary Wallace. The opposition party Fine Gael's spokesperson for agriculture, Michael Creed described the discovery as "potentially the biggest threat to the agriculture food sector since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease".
On the afternoon of 7 December, the FSAI claimed identification of the source as a contaminated ingredient which had been added to pork feed, and said it was now considered that the profile of dioxins located is similar to those found in electronic transformer oils. On the evening of that same day, RTÉ, the state-run broadcaster, reported that the source of the crisis was a processing plant in County Carlow (see #Millstream Power Recycling Limited). A garda investigation was launched. The Association of Pigmeat Processors refused to continue slaughtering pigs, insisting they needed a massive financial package (up to €1 billion) from the Irish government to assist them with the mass recall. The European Union maintained that there would be no funding for the Irish pork industry in the wake of the crisis. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny criticised the Irish government, calling the crisis "an unmitigated disaster".
Most pork products are at risk of contamination; however, pork gelatine, products containing pork gelatine such as sweets, crisps and snack foods and sauces with pork or ham content are not.
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2008 Irish pork crisis
The Irish pork crisis of 2008 was a dioxin contamination incident in Ireland that led to an international recall of pork products from Ireland produced between September and early December of that year. It was disclosed in early December 2008 that contaminated animal feed supplied by one Irish manufacturer to thirty-seven beef farms and nine pig farms across the Republic of Ireland, and eight beef farms and one dairy farm in Northern Ireland, had caused the contamination of pork with between 80 and 200 times the EU's recommended limit for dioxins and dioxin-like PCBs i.e. 0.2 ng/g TEQ fat (0.2 ppb). The Food Safety Authority of Ireland moved on 6 December to recall from the market all Irish pork products dating from 1 September 2008 to that date. The contaminated feed that was supplied to forty-five beef farms across the island was judged to have caused no significant public health risk, accordingly no recall of beef was ordered. Also affected was a dairy farm in Northern Ireland; some milk supplies were withdrawn from circulation. Processors refused to resume the slaughter of pigs until they received financial compensation.
Pork supplies to a total of twenty-three countries were affected, thirteen within the European Union and the remainder outside in an area across at least three continents. Countries affected include: Italy, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Belgium, Estonia, the UK, France, Portugal, Cyprus, Romania, Russia, the United States, Canada, Switzerland, China, South Korea, Japan and Republic of Singapore.
It is now suspected that the oil that contaminated the offending pig feed with dioxins came from County Tyrone. Some reports suggest the recovery of the Irish pork market would take up to a decade. The Irish government has been criticised over its handling of the incident.
On 18 December 2008, it was disclosed that the beef samples from the affected farms had dioxin levels between 100 and 400 times the legal limit. However the Irish authorities insisted that the threat to public health from Irish beef products, even though the dioxin levels were higher than in the affected pork, was insignificant. On 25 January 2009, Chinese quarantine authorities seized over 23 tonnes of frozen and contaminated Irish pork which was imported by a company in the city of Suzhou in October 2008. On 28 January 2009, Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture was told by Indaver Ireland managing director John Ahern that Ireland could "sleepwalk" into another pork crisis if the Minister for the Environment, John Gormley, continued with his plans to commence widespread use of mechanical biological treatment.
On the evening of 6 December, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland ordered the recall, withdrawal and destruction of all Irish pork products dating back to 1 September. It was announced that "dioxins & dioxin like PCBs", a group of highly toxic synthetic halogenated organic compounds, had been discovered in pork at levels between 80 and 200 times the EU's recommended safety limits. This contamination, which was first realised on 1 December, came about as a result of contamination of pig feed. The positive results for dioxins and dioxin like PCBs were confirmed on the afternoon of 6 December and announced within hours. The Irish general public were advised to destroy all their purchased pork products as Ireland's Department of Agriculture and the Food Safety Authority had initiated an investigation. Contaminated feed was used at as many as forty-six farms in the Republic of Ireland of which thirty-seven raised cattle for beef and nine produced pork. Additionally, contaminated feed was used on eight cattle farms in Northern Ireland. Beef products, from cattle who may have been fed contaminated feed, were judged to be safe and were not recalled from market. One cattle farm in Northern Ireland used the feed for beef and dairy cattle, and milk from this farm was removed from the food supply.
Following the discovery, the Taoiseach, Brian Cowen and the Irish Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Brendan Smith attended talks at the Department of Agriculture. Alongside them were the Minister for Health, Mary Harney and Ministers of State Trevor Sargent and Mary Wallace. The opposition party Fine Gael's spokesperson for agriculture, Michael Creed described the discovery as "potentially the biggest threat to the agriculture food sector since the outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease".
On the afternoon of 7 December, the FSAI claimed identification of the source as a contaminated ingredient which had been added to pork feed, and said it was now considered that the profile of dioxins located is similar to those found in electronic transformer oils. On the evening of that same day, RTÉ, the state-run broadcaster, reported that the source of the crisis was a processing plant in County Carlow (see #Millstream Power Recycling Limited). A garda investigation was launched. The Association of Pigmeat Processors refused to continue slaughtering pigs, insisting they needed a massive financial package (up to €1 billion) from the Irish government to assist them with the mass recall. The European Union maintained that there would be no funding for the Irish pork industry in the wake of the crisis. Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny criticised the Irish government, calling the crisis "an unmitigated disaster".
Most pork products are at risk of contamination; however, pork gelatine, products containing pork gelatine such as sweets, crisps and snack foods and sauces with pork or ham content are not.
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