The milk of human error

What if your healthy (or so you thought) morning glass of milk turns out to be a glass full of dioxin? .

Dioxins? According to researchers, a cancer inducing chemical substance.

The 'dioxin' scare has spiralled into the EU's biggest food crisis since the mad cow disease outbreak.

Foods containing more than two percent eggs or 25 percent animal fat are considered suspect. Butter, cream and cheese are the latest to be added to the danger list.

The contamination occurred in January through contaminated animal feed in Belgium and abnormalities started showing up in poultry early in February . Eggs failed to hatch and chicks showed signs of nerve defects.

The US which had earlier banned the import of European beef extended it to the import of chicken, pork and any of their by- products.

Asian countries too have started banning poultry, pork and dairy imports from EU countries. Malaysia and Singapore stopped importing such goods from Europe. South Korea banned the sale of pork and poultry from Belgium ,the Netherlands and France, the three countries where contaminated feed is feared to have been delivered. Hong Kong did likewise , and also halted imports from Germany.

Although there had been much media hype about the dioxin scare and the crisis is threatening to unseat the Belgian prime minister in the general elections this weekend, in Sri Lanka both consumers and officials felt that the issue would not affect them.

Secretary, Ministry of Internal and International Commerce and Food Anton Alfred told The Sunday Times that the matter was taken up at their weekly food security committee meeting and the relevant authorities from the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Livestock Development and the Customs Department have been duly informed about the precautionary measures to be taken.

But at leading supermarkets in the capital, few officials were aware of the matter. Those who had been following the news assured that there's no need for panic since "the bulk of our dairy products are from Australia and New Zealand."

When The Sunday Times team visited supermarkets in and around Colombo, we found that certain milk powders imported from the Netherlands are available in the market, for example, Cow & Gate Blue for infants over six months and Nan 2, a follow-up formula at the Park & Shop supermarket in Nugegoda .The date of manufacture of these items was either January or February of this year : within the period of contamination. The Cargills Food City outlets in Nugegoda and at Majestic City too had the same products. The outlet at Majestic City in addition had the infant formula Enfalac from the Netherlands. But whether these items are contaminated cannot be verified without the relevant tests being carried out. Because Sri Lanka gets most of its exported dairy produce from Australia and New Zealand, we seem to be minimally affected by the crisis.

Cubby Wijethunga, Chairman of Nestles who was aware of the 'dioxin crisis' told The Sunday Times that the bulk of Nestles dairy products are manufactured using dairy produce from local farmers. The Nan 1 infant formula and Nan 2 follow up Formulas imported from the Netherlands, he assured, were not contaminated in anyway. The formula included only skimmed milk and not full cream milk. (skimmed milk has a lower percentage of fat and hence is not considered at risk).

Mr Wijethunga said that his company regards the protection of the consumer as its highest priority and all precautions are taken to ensure the quality of its products.

The Marketing Director of Lanka Milk foods who market "Lakspray" said that they were not aware of the Belgian crisis but only imported dairy produce from Australia and Denmark for "Lakspray" at the moment.

Though some countries had extended the ban to meat products as well, in Sri Lanka the likelihood of such contaminated meat reaching the consumer was not high as most meats imported were not from EU countries. "Whenever we import meat from any country in the world, we have to get a licence from the Ministry of Health. Only after we get the clearance can we go ahead. Moreover, most of our imports come from Australia and New Zealand," said Yasa Nadaraja, Director, Productions at Keells Super, who too had not heard about the scare.

At large food importer Stassens, the Director of Imports said he had been following the situation closely. "Anyway, whenever we import food, we have to get a health certificate from the exporting country stating that the food products are fit for direct human consumption, be it meat or dairy products." Stassens, he said, does not import them from the EU countries.

Director of the Department of Animal Production and Health Dr. S.S.E Ranawana allayed fears saying, "Contaminated beef coming into the local market is not a danger as meat imports from Belgium and Holland are already banned" (after the outbreak of mad cow disease in Europe ).

More Plus

Return to the Plus Contents