Dioxin regularly enters the news as a scare story because when many believe the food supply chain is under some level of control, a notable toxin raises its hoary head with an unwanted history in so many other past incidents.  The latest was a dioxin scare in animal feeds in Germany in 2010. To reduce the impact further, the European Commission is to impose stringent measures on monitoring and surveillance of dioxin to improve food safety. It has drafted the regulatory document ‘’Approval of placing on the market of products intended for use as feed and derivatives of vegetable oils and blending fats’ and ‘Specific requirements for the production, storage, transport and controls of dioxin in oils, fats and their derivatives’ which received the backing on the 21^st October 2011 of the SCoFCAH (Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health).  

The regulations are new rules and definitions that apply to feed businesses not involved in the primary production of feed itself (defined in Annex II of the regulation 183/2005 –requirements for feed hygiene). They principally refer to businesses producing oils and fats which then become used in feed production and take the form of four measures to reduce contamination.

See the press release on the European Commission’s web-site for the new measures being put in place.

Reference

Member States endorse EU measures to better prevent dioxin contamination in food and feed (Brussels 21st October 2011)