10.05.2010

Dutch and German organic poultry farms are closed because of dioxin contamination in animal feed, according to German and Dutch authorities.
It involves eight farms in the Netherlands and nineteen farms in Germany that cannot sell their eggs for at least a week.
The dioxin contamination has been caused by contaminated corn from the Ukraine. The grains have been processed in organic poultry feed by several feed companies, including ForFarmers, which in turn supplied the feed to several German layer farms.
According to Germany's international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, millions of eggs were pulled from German Rewe and Lidl supermarket chains for showing traces of dioxin, which had apparently originated in the chicken fodder.

The German Consumer Rights Protection Association said Ukrainian fodder corn had been supplied to farms in at least nine German states.

Dioxins and dioxin-like compounds include a range of toxic and environmentally persistent substances.

Dioxin contamination of eggs hit the German headlines back in 2005, with calls for greater controls on free-range production, which may result in eggs with higher dioxin levels than those from caged birds.

Research among layer farms in the Netherlands and other EU countries has shown that organic eggs contain more dioxin than conventional ones and that a significant number of organic farms produce eggs with a dioxin content that exceeds the EU standard.

Consumption of worms and insects and particularly ingestion of soil are important causes of high dioxin levels in eggs. Management interventions, like a reduction of the time the hens spend outside, may decrease the dioxin levels in organic eggs but at the same time may interfere with the image of the organic production system.