Update: 15:07 5/1/11

Up to 3,000 tons of an animal feed additive has been found to contain traces of dioxin, according to a report from the German Agriculture Ministry obtained by the news agency dpa on Wednesday. On Tuesday, officials had spoken of just 527 tons of contaminated feed. The additive, a fat added to animal feed used to give an energy boost, was sold to 25 German feed manufacturers by Harles and Jentzsch, a farm operating north of Hamburg. The fat comprised between 2 and 10 percent of the feed mixture for poultry and pigs, meaning a maximum of 150,000 tons of feed could have been contaminated.

German authorities yesterday announced they had shut down a further 139 farms in North Rhine-Westphalia as a precaution after livestock feed contaminated with dioxin was supplied to German farmers.

As the number of farm closures exceeds 1,100, the finger of blame now points to Harles & Jentzsch, a Schleswig-Holstein agriculture firm. The contaminated animal feed was made from vegetable oils created as by-products of biofuel manufacturing; the company have admitted their conduct had been “careless”.

The Federal Office of Consumer Protection and Food Safety (BVL) announced that Harles & Jentzsch had used fatty acids suitable only for uses such as manufacturing lubricants to make the feed, despite the existence of clear warning labels. The poisonous dioxin may have tainted the eggs and meat of farm animals on sale in Germany as a result.

The company had been purchasing by-products from the manufacture of biofuel and processing them to make feed for some time. In an interview with German newspaper Westfalen-Blatt, Siegfried Siever, head of Harles & Jentzsch, confessed, “We were careless about the assumption that the mixed fatty acid that arises during the manufacture of palm, soya and rapeseed oils, is suitable for manufacture of animal feed.”

The firm distributed 527 tonnes of processed product to seven feed manufacturers in Lower Saxony, three in North Rhine-Westphalia and one each in Hamburg and Lower Saxony. The manufacturers went on to supply farms in Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia, Saxony and Brandenburg.

North Rhine-Westphalia has published the first series of serial numbers for potentially contaminated eggs. However, after an emergency meeting of agriculture ministers, calls are being made for harsh sanctions. Jürgen Reinholz, Agriculture Minister for the state of Thuringia commented that “tougher penalties for breaches of food and animal feed laws” were imperative.

Despite ministers’ outrage and calls for increased consumer protection, an investigation is currently being conducted to ascertain whether any criminal offence has been committed.    

 The Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) have stated there is no risk to consumers at present, although the farm closures and chicken culls have been deemed appropriate. A spokesperson for the Finance Ministry explained that “The important thing is that contaminated food is secured and affected products do not reach retailers.”