Dioxin burden apparently known for months

Dioxin burden apparently known for months. Supplier concealed known dioxin contamination

01/07/2011

The dioxin-contaminated fats have been processed for much longer in animal feed production than previously thought. Already ten months ago in fat samples at the Uetersen company Harles & Jentzsch was found to be too high a dioxin value, like the „Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung“ (HAZ) reported today.

Dioxin contaminated fat processed for months
Apparently, dioxin contaminated fat was processed into animal feed months ago, although the burden was known. For example, in March 2010, a fat sample from Harles & Jentzsch, a supplier to a supplier of fat, found too high a level of dioxin in a private laboratory „HAZ“. The permissible maximum quantity of 0.75 nanograms of dioxin per kilogram of fat was more than doubled, as confirmed by the Ministry of Agriculture in Kiel. The Federal Consumer Minister Ilse Aigner (CSU) stressed, however, regarding the cover-up suspicion: „If there is a suspicion that the responsible company has been aware of the dioxin contamination for months and yet did not inform the competent state authorities, this is highly criminal and completely irresponsible.“ The management of Harles & Jentzsch did not want to comment on the new allegations due to the ongoing investigation

Tens of thousands of tonnes of dioxin contaminated feed
The public prosecutor's office had in the face of the current dioxin scandal on Wednesday, the rooms of Harles & Jentzsch in Uetersen and those of a partner operation in Lower Saxony Bösel search. Numerous files have been seized and even though the CEO of Harles & Jentzsch has always spoken of recklessness and later of human error, there is a suspicion of criminal activities. The dioxin-contaminated fat had been delivered by the ton to feed producers and thus got into the feed of laying hens, fattening poultry and pigs. According to estimates by the state authorities, tens of thousands of tons of pet food contaminated with the carcinogenic environmental toxin could have been processed. The fact that the burden was apparently already known months ago gives rise to strong doubts about the behavior and the motives of the supplier Harles & Jentzsch.

Dioxin exposure should have been reported
Also the fact that the known exceeding of the permissible dioxin limit values ​​in the feed production by the dilution of the loaded fats was corrected again, throws no good light on the behavior patterns of the feed industry. The dioxin contamination would have had to be reported immediately after the finding and the fats should not have been used, said a spokesman for the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Agriculture. However, the authorities had only at the end of December learned of the exceeding of the limit, said the spokesman for Juliane Rumpf (CDU), Minister of Agriculture Schleswig-Holstein. In addition, it had come several times in internal investigations of the company to abnormalities, the Harles & Jentzsch also not reported to the competent authorities.

Over 4,700 farms closed for suspected dioxin
In studies of samples of contaminated feed fat, which was responsible for the dioxin contamination of animal feed, the Kiel Ministry has found some massive limit violations. Thus, the highest measured dioxin value was 10.05 nanograms, which is 14 times the maximum allowed. However, on suspicion of dioxin-contaminated feed, more and more farmers nationwide had to temporarily shut down their farms. More than 4,700 holdings are already affected, with most of these farms located in Lower Saxony (4,468 holdings). The farmer president Gerd Sonnleitner estimates the resulting damage for the affected farmers in total at 40 to 60 million euros per week. Sonnleitner demands that the feed suppliers should pay the farmers' claims for damages and emphasized: „There we will go to the last.“ The Peasant President demanded that the animal feed industry set up a loss fund as soon as possible, covering at least a three-digit million sum a year, to cover such damage. (Fp)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann / myself