Contaminated eggs imported from Europe

The executive of the European Union confirmed yesterday that the toxic eggs had been imported into Britain from the Netherlands.

German authorities said this week that 3,000 tons of animal feed poisoned with dioxin was sent to more than 1,000 farms which then went into processed foods destined for the UK for use in foods such as mayonnaise and cakes.

High levels of dioxins have been linked with cancer and are known to produce health problems for pregnant women.

However the Foods Standards Agency last night said that the products would have been highly diluted by the time they reached the consumer and were unlikely to pose a threat to health.

European Commission health spokesman Frederic Vincent said about 130,000 eggs were known to have been contaminated.

"Those eggs were then processed and then exported to the United Kingdom as a 14-tonne consignment of pasteurised product for consumption.

"Whether it went into mayonnaise, pastries, I don't know. So we will probably take a look at this with the UK authorities and see what was done with these eggs."

Tests on eggs produced by the affected farms in Germany had been found to contain up to five times the legal EU limit for dioxin, Mr Vincent said.

"The levels detected don't pose a risk to human health. You would have to eat a lot of eggs, or a lot of processed products made with these eggs, in order for this to actually pose a risk to human health," he said.

A spokesman for the Food Standards Agency Scotland said the government was aware of the issue and would release more information as soon as it became available.

The FSA said that because the affected eggs were likely to have been highly diluted it was unlikely to pose a risk to health.

"The Food Standards Agency has received further information in relation to the ongoing investigation into the dioxin contamination of pig and poultry feed in Germany.

"The agency has been informed that following the distribution of affected eggs to the Netherlands, these eggs were mixed with other non-contaminated eggs to make pasteurised liquid egg. This pasteurised liquid egg has been distributed to the UK. The mixing of the eggs will have diluted the levels of dioxins and they are not thought to be a risk to health."The FSA is currently liaising with the industry and will provide further updates."

Dioxins are formed by burning waste and by other industrial processes and have been shown to contribute to higher cancer rates and to affect pregnant women.

The origin of the feed contamination has been traced to a distributor of oils for animal feed production in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, where oils meant for industrial use in biofuels were distributed for animal feed.

About 1,000 farms have been shut in Lower Saxony alone, and hundreds in other states.