High dioxin levels in feed

High dioxin levels found in sugar beet cuttings

10.11.2011

Dioxin contamination in agricultural feed is higher than previously thought, according to the authorities. This resulted in self-examination of a producer yesterday. The information has already been forwarded to the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture. However, according to the authorities, there is no acute danger.

Is there a new dioxin scandal? In samples of sugar beet cuttings that are used as feed on farms, far higher load values ​​were measured than previously suspected by the authorities. On Wednesday, authorities from Saxony-Anhalt informed the Ministry of Agriculture in Lower Saxony about this. In self-monitoring studies at a sugar producer, a dioxin value of 4.42 ng TEQ per kilogram of feed was measured. So far, experts had always assumed a value of the previously known 1.65 ng TEQ / kg. The farm had measured the high levels in a single sample of sugar beet pulp pellets.

When the values ​​became known, a recalculation of the risk assessment for the beetroot products delivered to the state of Lower Saxony began. For this assessment, the highest measured load value is always used, the so-called „worst case“. In the course of this, other feedstuffs will be blocked in agricultural operations and may no longer be used to feed livestock.

Delivery of contaminated feed to Schleswig-Holstein
The contaminated with dioxin feed was delivered according to the Ministry of Environment and Agriculture not only to Lower Saxony, but also to Schleswig-Holstein. The sugar beet Schnitzel were transported according to authorities as animal feed component in the designated federal state. According to the current state of affairs, the quantity delivered is estimated at around one and a half tonnes of feed. The official animal feed monitoring researched that the legally prescribed maximum load of dioxin in animal feed was below the limit value (0.75 ng / per kilo) and also below the action value (0.5 ng / per kilogram). Therefore, from a government perspective, no recall of animal feed is needed. In addition, about 440 kg of the 1.5 tonnes of feed delivered were not processed and are currently blocked.

As stated by the Lower Saxony Ministry of Agriculture, there is no reason for concern. A new risk assessment for food from agriculture does not exist. The compound feedingstuffs in which the sugar beet chips were added were only used in farms to a lesser extent of the total feed ration. From the ministry's point of view, therefore, there is no health risk for the consumer, as food is not overly contaminated.

Dioxin damages nerves and promotes cancer
After the dioxin scandals in animal feed, the public is rightly sensitized. Dioxin is scientifically proven to be of a certain amount as a carcinogen and triggers in addition to a variety of health threats. The long-lived dioxin compounds accumulate with every consumption of contaminated foods in the fat, liver and skin tissue of the human body. Although there is no acute danger at low and one-time values, dioxins are stored throughout the body for life and for a long time. Per food intake, the dioxin content in the body potentiates. In addition, there is a risk of disturbances of the immune system, the nerve tracts and the hormone balance. The immune-toxic effects can cause changes in the thyroid gland and cause skin damage. (Sb)

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Picture: Gerd Altmann / myself