ANALYSIS:DIOXIN LEVELS of between 330 and 1,038 picograms per gram were found in samples of beef from restricted Irish farms while the legal EU level is just three picograms per gram, it emerged last night.
But according to health experts, the elevated picogram levels, which represent one-trillionth of a gram, pose no danger to human health.
The levels of contamination in pork which led to its instant withdrawal from the market was 80-200 times the acceptable level.
But why then should Irish beef be any different to pork?
Alan Reilly, of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, said he accepted the levels seemed extremely high, but were not deemed a health risk because of the levels of exposure involved.
The pork samples represented 10 per cent of Irish output while these samples represent only 0.02 per cent of Irish cattle output and this dramatically lowers the level of exposure, he said.
"Even at the levels found, and I accept they are extremely high, this contamination was identified very quickly so consumers were not exposed for any length of time to them," he said.
He explained that dioxins build up in the body fat over a 40-year lifetime and the safety levels are based on this period.
"One would have to be eating a great deal of contaminated beef over a very long period to cause any concern," he said.
The scientific arguments seem to have persuaded the British Food Standards Agency (FSA)which yesterday reassured consumers about eating Irish beef, following the withdrawal of beef exposed to feed contaminated with dioxins,
"The number of animals affected in this incident represents less than 1 per cent of ROI's national herd.
"The majority of the meat from these animals has been held, but a small amount of affected meat may have entered the UK food chain.
"This meat is likely to have reached consumers, but the risk to human health from consuming this is very low," it said.
"The FSA continues to investigate the issue of contaminated feed in the UK and the focus is now on a small number of cattle herds in Northern Ireland. All such cattle herds and associated carcasses remain on hold and will not be permitted to enter the food chain unless full dioxin test results show that dioxin levels are within legal limits."
The European Food Safety Authority is expected to issue a statement on the issue later today.