Issued by: National Departments of Agriculture and Health During a joint meeting between the Directors-General and senior officials of the National Departments of Agriculture and Health on 9 June, both Departments committed themselves in ensuring public safety and to address the fear of consumers in South Africa created by the dioxine crisis in Belgium.
The Directorate of Food Control of the Department of Health will investigate the possibility of performing screening tests for the presence PCB's (Poli Chlorinated Biphenyls) as indicators for dioxines on samples of imported products. This will be initiated as soon as more detailed information from the Belgium authorities are available on the products at risk for containing possible high levels of dioxine or related compounds. The technology is available in South Africa do these tests.
The requirements for labelling of food and food products will also be investigated with the aim of possible enforcing the identification of the origin of products in processed foods.
To guide the public and for the information of retail outlets and food shops, the European Commission have indicated that the following products of Belgium are at risk:
Fresh meat, mechanically recovered meat, minced meat and meat preparation, meat products and other meat products of animal origin, raw milk, heat treated milk and milk based products, rendered fats, processed animal proteins, raw material for the manufacturing of animal feeds.
Dioxine concentrate in the fatty tissue of animals. They have therefore also indicated that butter, minced pork meat, fresh sausage, meat loaf, bacon, pate and liver pate, liver, salami, different type of sausage, ham salad, black pudding, pork fat (lard) and beef suet, are also at risk.
The public should also be aware that dioxine and related PCB's are very often released in the environment as a waste product of combustion, waste incineration or as unwanted by-products of industrial processes. Evaporation from chlorophenol wood preservatives, emission by sinter industries, the use of defoliants, the preparation of herbicides, traffic and bleaching of paper pulp using chlorine are also known to contribute to environmental contamination with dioxines. However, control measures in place in most countries largely prevent human contamination over the acceptable levels from these sources. The most common source of infection is from ingestion of food from animal origin where dixine compounds tend to accumulate in the fatty tissue of animals after exposure to environmental and pasture contamination. The World Health Organisation has indicated that the tolerance level in humans for the intake of dioxine without adverse effects is 1-4 pg/kg body weight.
The National Department of Agriculture will maintain the ban on Belgium imports until we are confident that the Belgium authorities can render the necessary guarantees to meet our level of protection for human and animal health.
Enquiries: Dr Gideon Bruckner, Director Food Safety &
Veterinary and Public Health, National Department of Agriculture
(012) 319 7679 (work) / (012) 807 5079 (home) / 083 3102587
Dr Theo Van de Venter, Director Food Control, Department of Health
(012) 312 0185/6 (work) / home 012 807 1564