IRELAND.
STATEMENT ON IRISH BEEF SAFETY.
The food Standards Agency of Ireland, went into damage control on Friday, reassuring customers that it was safe to eat Irish beef. The statement followed the Republic of Irelands withdrawal of beef from cattle exposed to feed contaminated with dioxins.
The statement read, "The Republic of Ireland has this afternoon announced that beef from cattle that have eaten feed contaminated with dioxins is being withdrawn. Animals from affected herds and associated carcass’s have been held on the relevant farms and at the meat processing plants since early last week, pending results of the tests carried out by the government authorities to show the dioxin levels. Therefore while the risk to human health is likely to be very low, this meat will be withdrawn from the market".
The United Kingdom will continue to work with the Department of Agriculture authorities in Dublin, along with the wider enforcement community and the European Union member states to protect all consumers.
The investigation into the contaminated animal feed continues, as to how it arrived in the feed in the first instance.
This has been a disaster for the Irish meat and farming industries, being the largest meat re-call in the history of the nation. The restrictions will remain in place on the affected farms and the government have said that all parties from the meat and farming sector are cooperating.