THE DIOXIN CONTAMINATION INCIDENT IN IRELAND 2008

摘要

In December 2008 the Irish food sector faced a major food crisis that had public health, political and economic consequences. All pork products produced from animals slaughtered In Ireland between 1st September and 6th December 2008 were recalled from both the domestic and international markets; the largest recall of foods in the history of the State. The reason for this recall was the finding that some pork products were contaminated with dioxins and dioxin-like polychlorinated biphenyls at levels of toxicological concern. This resulted from the consumption, by food animals of animal feed contaminated with a specific dioxin congener profile that suggested the source was transformer oil. Swift action taken by the Irish authorities saw the removal of contaminated products from the market and within six days these were replaced with products from animals that had not received the contaminated feed. Faced with this crisis of an unprecedented scale the Irish food safety control programme worked and the country was back in business in less than one week.