Commission Press Release (IP/02/1034), 10 July 2002

CONTAMINANTS - Food Chain Committee Discussion on MPA-hormones in feed and food products

The Standing Committee for the Food Chain and Animal Health, consisting of representatives of Member States, heard detailed reports by the Dutch, Belgian and Irish authorities on the state of play of their investigations. The European Commission concluded the discussions as follows, to which all Member States agreed:

• The Netherlands has to make sure that they block all farms and feed producers potentially involved in the incident and has to circulate immediately a full list of all these farms and feed producers. The Netherlands shall also immediately communicate all test results obtained to the Commission and the Member States on an on-going basis;
• All Member States will continue to trace potentially affected feed and food, block establishments concerned and test possibly affected products;
• All Member States will verify if domestic companies were clients of the Belgian company Bioland;
• All Member States will continue to send any new information through the European Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed to ensure that all members of the network have immediate access to all available information;
• Ireland and Belgium will continue their investigation;
• All Member States should verify if pharmaceutical waste on their territory is disposed of correctly.

The Food Chain Committee will discuss again the situation next Tuesday, 16 July in the afternoon, during its regular meeting.