German officials said yesterday they had shut 4,700 farms and destroyed more than 100,000 eggs, as a widening crisis over tainted animal feed rocked the country, with authorities suspecting illegal activity.
A spokesman for German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner told a regular news conference: “4,709 farms and businesses are currently closed,” including 4,468 in the state of Lower Saxony, northwest Germany.
They will be closed until they are found to be clear of contamination with dioxin, a toxic chemical compound that can cause cancer if ingested in large doses, and will not be allowed to make any deliveries, Holger Eichele said.
“This strategy has led, as expected, to a very high number of closures, which will be reduced in the coming days as tests are carried out,” he added.
Nearly all types of farms, especially those rearing pigs, have been affected by the closures in eight of Germany’s 16 states, the agriculture ministry said. There are around 375,000 farms in Germany.
The firm Harles und Jentzsch in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein is alleged to have supplied up to 3,000 tonnes of contaminated fatty acids meant only for industrial use to around 25 animal feed makers.
Most of this – 2,500 tonnes – was delivered in November and December to animal feed producers in Lower Saxony, where it was used in fodder.
The Schleswig-Holstein agriculture ministry said yesterday that 18 out of the 30 samples from Harles und Jentzsch that have been tested so far have shown dioxin levels above the maximum permitted dose.
One sample showed a dioxin level of 58.17 nanogrammes, 78 times over the limit.
Prosecutors have launched an investigation into the affair and Mr Eichele said that “the first indications point to a high level of illegal activity.”
The scandal took a new turn yesterday when authorities confirmed tests as far back as March 2010 had revealed high dioxin levels at Harles und Jentzsch, with the results only coming to light recently.
Meanwhile, German farmers were left to count the cost, as evidence began to emerge that consumers were already being scared off.
The head of the country’s farming association, Gerd Sonnleitner, told the Neue Osnabruecker Zeitung regional daily yesterday: “One has to assume that farmers will be losing around 40 to 60 million euros per week.”
Despite officials insisting there is no health risk, Germans appear to be already altering their purchasing habits, said Margit Beck from a chicken and egg market research firm.
There has been a “clearly noticeable” impact on the market already, Ms Beck said, adding it was too early to give precise figures.
“There is a lot of uncertainty, both from consumers and from producers,” she said.
However, a survey conducted for ARD public television suggested two thirds of German consumers would not change their egg consumption, despite 100,000 eggs being destroyed as a precaution in Lower Saxony.