Dioxins fear over meat in Germany

Supermarkets in the UK withdrew products from their shelves on Friday after it emerged that farm animals were given contaminated feed.

A ministry spokesman said yesterday that three chickens - out of 15 samples of chicken, turkey and pork meat sent to the EU Commission - showed a dioxin concentration twice as high as legally allowed. Excessive dioxin levels were previously discovered in eggs.

Germany has frozen sales of poultry, pork and eggs from more than 4,700 farms. On Friday, supermarkets were forced to remove thousands of products from their shelves after it was confirmed that eggs contaminated with dioxins had been used in their cakes, sponges and quiches.

Tesco, Morrisons and Sainsbury's have been among the major names affected by contaminated German eggs. Fourteen tons of suspect liquid eggs entered the UK food chain in the run-up to Christmas.

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said supermarkets had already sold most of the affected food, which had a short shelf. The agency advised retailers to clear any remaining affected products, but stressed that consumers do not face any risks, as mixing the eggs would have diluted the levels of dioxins.

The pasteurised liquid egg in question had been supplied to Kensey Foods in Cornwall and Memory Lane Cakes in Cardiff, who then made the products for the supermarkets.

The FSA said: "There is no food safety risk from eating these products. The majority of products will have been sold and most have passed their 'use by' or 'best before' dates. Supermarkets are removing the small amount of products that are still in date."

A spokesman for Tesco said: "We are withdrawing a small number of products. We would like to stress to customers that this is a purely precautionary measure and the FSA has stated there is no food safety risk."

The problem appears to have originated when oils intended for biofuel became mixed with oil destined for animal feed.