July 2
All Belgian foods identified
Consumers can be confident that any Belgian, Dutch or French foods on sale in New Zealand are free of the cancer-causing
chemical dioxin.
All foods containing Belgian ingredients of animal origin have been identified, checked and cleared as being safe, the
Ministry of Health said.
Ministry Chief Advisor of Safety and Regulation Dr Bob Boyd said the last of the about 30 importing companies had now
been contacted.
The companies checked their records to determine whether their imports could have been contaminated by the
cancer-causing chemical dioxin fed to animals in Belgian earlier this year.
The checks found only a very small proportion of food on sale in New Zealand containing Belgian ingredients had been
imported during the January 15-June 1 period in question.
Contacting importing companies was only one of several precautionary measures the Ministry took when the food safety
scare erupted in Europe.
The Ministry met with retailers' representatives to ensure potentially contaminated goods were withdrawn from sale until
their safety could be confirmed, Dr Boyd said.
An emergency food standard was drafted preventing the importation of goods without a certificate of clearance. The
standard will remain in force until the European community advises the Ministry that the issue has been resolved.
Dr Boyd said the situation in Europe was confused and the individual countries were unable to give blanket clearance to
their export products.
"We had no evidence that the foods on sale containing animal products from the affected countries could present a health
risk, but we took swift precautionary action. We were heartened by the responsible attitude shown by retailers and
importers."
The potentially affected products included processed meats, cheese, chocolate, and soups and broths. A list of cleared
products is available on the Ministry's website. Address; http://www.moh.govt.nz/dioxin.html
Dioxin could harm people who ingested it regularly over a prolonged period rather than people who ate a possibly
slightly contaminated food once or twice.
ENDS