MICHAEL O'KEEFFE,
Madam, - I refer to the article in your edition of December 17th on the EPA report on dioxin levels and to the interesting piece by Dick Ahlstrom in your edition of December 5th on dioxin levels in milk.
Your readers might be interested in the results of two further studies on dioxins, which were carried out during 1998/99 on dairy products and during 2000 on fat from cattle, sheep, poultry and pigs.
These studies were organised by The National Food Centre, Teagasc, as part of its food residue database, with analyses being undertaken at a specialist laboratory in The Netherlands (RIKILT, Wageningen). For the dairy products study, 90 samples of cheese were obtained from seven cheese manufacturing companies over a 12-month period. The values for dioxins in these samples were less than 0.8 pg TEQ/g fat, which is well below the current EU maximum level for dairy products of 3 pg TEQ/g fat.
In the case of the study on carcass fat, 60 samples from 13 slaughter plants over a six-month period were analysed; the maximum content of dioxins measured in these samples were 0.6, 2.1, 1.4 and 0.4 pg TEQ/g fat for cattle, sheep, poultry and pigs, respectively.
The current maximum level specified by the EU for dioxins in meat is 3, 2 and 1 pg TEQ/g fat for ruminants (cattle and sheep), poultry and pigs respectively; all samples tested were below the maximum levels set.
These studies on dioxins in food help to confirm the safety of Irish food products to the consumer. Copies of a full report on the food residue database studies are available from the undersigned. - Yours, etc.,
MICHAEL O'KEEFFE,
B.Sc., Ph.D.,
Food Safety Department,
National Food Centre,
Teagasc Dunsinea,
Ashtown,
Dublin 15.