CONTAMINATED milk has been found on two farms in Northern Ireland but will remain on sale because food watchdogs say the risk to health from drinking it is very low.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said higher than normal levels of the potentially cancer-causing dioxins were found in milk. It comes just weeks after pork and beef from Ireland were removed from supermarket shelves when it was discovered that livestock had eaten tainted feed from a centre in the Irish Republic.
A spokesman for the FSA said: "Milk from two dairy farms in Northern Ireland has been stopped from entering the food chain after test results show dioxin levels above legal limits.
"Although breaching regulations, these levels of dioxin are much lower than those found in pork and beef affected by feed contamination last year."
The milk was distributed in Northern Ireland and to the Republic of Ireland but any threat to health will be diluted because the affected farms normally mix their milk with milk from other farms before it goes on sale.
The FSA spokesman said: "Any finished product on the market is likely to be diluted and well within the legal limits for dioxins."
Contamination of the milk is likely to be from dioxin residues in the fat of animals that had previously eaten contaminated feed.
The products will not be withdrawn from sale, but the FSA said it would continue to test the milk until the levels fell within legal guidelines.
Health effects from eating the affected products are only likely if people are exposed to high levels of this contamination for long periods.
Meanwhile, pig and cattle farmers in Northern Ireland are pressing the Irish government for compensation after being forced to hold their animals and having exported meat returned at the height of December’s dioxin crisis.
Alliance Party leader David Ford said he was concerned the dioxins found in milk were being linked to the problems found in pork and beef.
He said: "There is an obligation on the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Health to safeguard animal and human health. I congratulate the agencies responsible for conducting the tests that yielded these findings, as their work is important to farmers and the public."
