German authorities today announced poisonous chemical dioxin has been found at above legal levels in eggs on a farm in North Rhine Westphalia. German officials have said that the discovery presents no threat to the public, though they are launching an investigation to discover how the dioxin came to be present.

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In January last year, over 4,600 poultry farms and piggeries were banned from selling their produce after animals were given feed contaminated with dioxin when by-products of biofuel manufacture were processed into food by German feed company Harles and Jentzsch. The affected farmers were predominantly in the states of Lower Saxony and North Rhine Westphalia.

In November last year, authorities in North Rhine Westphalia again played down the risk posed by dioxin when the chemical was found in sugar beet pulp destined for animal feed. A spokesperson for the state ministry of agriculture said, "We see no danger; the sugar pulp usually makes up only 10-15 percent of compound feed and the levels are not so high that the entire animal feed mixture would be pushed over the limits."

This week, dioxin was discovered at levels three to six times the safe legal limit in eggs on a farm in the state during routine tests. The state agriculture ministry said the farm has been prevented from selling its produce while tests into how the contamination occurred are ongoing. Tests on feed at the farm came back negative.

Following the January 2011 dioxin scandal, German agriculture secretary Ilse Aigner announced stricter regulations on feed ingredients and tougher licensing for feed producers.

Dioxins, by-products of certain industrial processes, are persistent organic pollutants (POP); they are extremely toxic to humans and animals if ingested over a period of time.

Update 05/04/12. 09.45:

Dioxin tainted eggs have been found at two more poultry farms in Germany, following yesterday’s announcement. The two farms, both in North Rhine Westphalia, have been prevented from selling eggs whilst tests to ascertain how contamination occurred are ongoing. A spokesperson for the state agriculture ministry said it remains unclear how eggs came to be tainted at any of the three farms.  

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