Irish beef is the subject of a new health scare after the Food Standards Agency warned that meat contaminated with dioxins had reached shop shelves in the UK.
The food regulator said yesterday that there would be no recall of the contaminated meat, insisting that the danger to the public was “very low”.
Cattle from 21 farms were found to be contaminated with the chemicals, just a week after the alarm was raised over Irish pork found to contain many times the legal limit of dioxins.
“The number of animals affected in this [latest] incident represents less than 1% of Ireland's national herd,” said an FSA spokesman. “The majority of the meat from these animals has been held but a small amount of affected meat may have entered the UK food chain.
“This meat is likely to have reached consumers but the risk to human health from consuming this is very low.”
Hundreds of cattle from the affected farms have been destroyed and beef production has been suspended.
Meanwhile, FSA chair Dame Deirdre Hutton confirmed yesterday she is stepping down from the regulator’s top role at the conclusion of her four-year term next July.
“I have been with the agency for nearly half of its relatively short life, during which consumer confidence in the FSA as a regulator, and a source of trusted advice, has continued to rise,” Hutton said. “Real progress has been made on ensuring safe food and healthy eating for all.”
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