![Island of Ireland location map Tyrone](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1e/Island_of_Ireland_location_map_Tyrone.svg)
The Irish pork crisis of 2008 was a
dioxin contamination incident in Ireland that led to an international recall of pork products from Ireland produced between September and early December of that year. It was disclosed in early December 2008 that contaminated
animal feed supplied by one Irish manufacturer to thirty-seven beef farms and nine pig farms across
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
, and eight beef farms and one dairy farm in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
, had caused the contamination of pork with between 80 and 200 times the
EU's recommended limit for
dioxins and dioxin-like
PCBs
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...
''i.e.'' 0.2
ng/g
TEQ fat (0.2
ppb).
The
Food Safety Authority of Ireland
__NOTOC__
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) ( ga, Údarás Sábháilteachta Bia na hÉireann – USBE) is the statutory body responsible for ensuring food produced, distributed or marketed in Ireland complies with food safety and hygiene ...
moved on 6 December to recall from the market all Irish pork products dating from 1 September 2008 to that date. The contaminated feed that was supplied to forty-five beef farms across the island was judged to have caused no significant public health risk, accordingly no recall of beef was ordered. Also affected was a dairy farm in Northern Ireland; some milk supplies were withdrawn from circulation. Processors refused to resume slaughter of pigs until they received financial compensation.
Pork supplies to a total of twenty-three countries was affected, thirteen within the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
and the remainder outside in an area across at least three continents. Countries affected include:
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, the
Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_title = Before independence
, established_date = Spanish Netherl ...
,
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...
,
Sweden,
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark
, establish ...
,
Belgium
Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...
,
Estonia
Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...
, the
UK,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
,
Cyprus
Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ge ...
,
Romania
Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...
,
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
,
Switzerland,
China,
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korean Peninsula and sharing a land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed by the Yellow Sea, while its eas ...
,
Japan and
Republic of Singapore.
It is now suspected that the oil that contaminated the offending pig feed with dioxins came from
County Tyrone
County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...
.
Some reports suggest the recovery of the Irish pork market would take up to a decade. The Irish government has been criticised over its handling of the incident.
On 18 December 2008, it was disclosed that the beef samples from the affected farms had dioxin levels between 100 and 400 times the legal limit.
However the Irish authorities insisted that the threat to public health from Irish beef products, even though the dioxin levels were higher than in the affected pork, was insignificant.
On 25 January 2009, Chinese quarantine authorities seized over 23 tonnes of frozen and contaminated Irish pork which was imported by a company in the city of
Suzhou in October 2008. On 28 January 2009, Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture was told by Indaver Ireland managing director John Ahern that Ireland could "sleepwalk" into another pork crisis if the Minister for the Environment,
John Gormley
John Gormley (born 4 August 1959) is an Irish former Green Party politician who served as Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government from June 2007 to January 2011, Leader of the Green Party from June 2007 to May 2011 and Lor ...
, continued with his plans to commence widespread use of
mechanical biological treatment
A mechanical biological treatment (MBT) system is a type of waste processing facility that combines a sorting facility with a form of biological treatment such as composting or anaerobic digestion. MBT plants are designed to process mixed househo ...
.
Pork
Background
![400-Relative dioxin levels](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/71/400-Relative_dioxin_levels.svg)
On the evening of 6 December, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland ordered the recall, withdrawal and destruction of all Irish pork products dating back to 1 September. It was announced that "dioxins & dioxin like PCBs", a group of highly toxic synthetic
halogenated
In chemistry, halogenation is a chemical reaction that entails the introduction of one or more halogens into a compound. Halide-containing compounds are pervasive, making this type of transformation important, e.g. in the production of polymers, ...
organic compounds, had been discovered in pork at levels between 80 and 200 times the
EU's recommended safety limits. This contamination, which was first realised on 1 December, came about as a result of contamination of pig feed. The positive results for dioxins and dioxin like PCBs were confirmed on the afternoon of 6 December and announced within hours. The Irish general public were advised to destroy all their purchased pork products as Ireland's
Department of Agriculture and the Food Safety Authority had initiated an investigation.
Contaminated feed was used at as many as forty-six farms in the
Republic of Ireland
Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern ...
of which thirty-seven raised cattle for beef and nine produced pork.
Additionally, contaminated feed was used on eight cattle farms in
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...
.
Beef products, from cattle who may have been fed contaminated feed, were judged to be safe and were not recalled from market.
One cattle farm in Northern Ireland used the feed for beef and dairy cattle, and milk from this farm was removed from th
food supply
Following the discovery, the
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the o ...
,
Brian Cowen
Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011.
Cowen was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1984, for the constituency of Laois–Offaly and served in a ...
and the Irish
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food,
Brendan Smith attended talks at the Department of Agriculture. Alongside them were the
Minister for Health A health minister is the member of a country's government typically responsible for protecting and promoting public health and providing welfare and other social security services.
Some governments have separate ministers for mental health.
Coun ...
,
Mary Harney
Mary Harney (born 11 March 1953) is an Irish former politician and the current Chancellor of the University of Limerick.
She was leader of the Progressive Democrats party between 1993 and 2006 and again from 2007 to 2008, resuming the role aft ...
and
Ministers of State
Minister of State is a title borne by politicians in certain countries governed under a parliamentary system. In some countries a Minister of State is a Junior Minister of government, who is assigned to assist a specific Cabinet Minister. In o ...
Trevor Sargent
Trevor Anthony Sargent (born 26 July 1960) is a minister of the Church of Ireland and a former Irish Green Party politician who served as a Minister of State from 2007 to 2010 and Leader of the Green Party from 2001 to 2007. He served as a Tea ...
and
Mary Wallace. The opposition party
Fine Gael
Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil à ...
's spokesperson for agriculture,
Michael Creed described the discovery as "potentially the biggest threat to the agriculture food sector since the outbreak of
foot-and-mouth disease".
On the afternoon of 7 December, the FSAI claimed identification of the source as a contaminated ingredient which had been added to pork feed, and said it was now considered that the profile of dioxins located is similar to those found in electronic
transformer oil Transformer oil or insulating oil is an oil that is stable at high temperatures and has excellent electrical insulating properties. It is used in oil-filled transformers (wet transformers), some types of high-voltage capacitors, fluorescent lamp b ...
s. On the evening of that same day,
RTÉ, the state-run broadcaster, reported that the source of the crisis was a processing plant in County Carlow ''(see
#Millstream Power Recycling Limited)''. A
garda investigation was launched.
The Association of Pigmeat Processors refused to continue slaughtering pigs, insisting they needed a massive financial package (up to €1 billion) from the Irish government to assist them with the mass recall. The European Union maintained that there would be no funding for the Irish pork industry in the wake of the crisis. Fine Gael leader
Enda Kenny
Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 2017, Leader of the Opposition from ...
criticised the Irish government, calling the crisis "an unmitigated disaster".
Affected products
Most pork products are at risk of contamination; however,
pork gelatine, products containing pork gelatine such as sweets, crisps and snack foods and sauces with pork or ham content are not.
Health effects of dioxins and PCBs
Dioxins and
polychlorinated biphenyl
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...
s (PCBs)
are two groups of predominately man-made toxic chemicals which, when consumed, affect both the
immune
In biology, immunity is the capability of multicellular organisms to resist harmful microorganisms. Immunity involves both specific and nonspecific components. The nonspecific components act as barriers or eliminators of a wide range of pathogens ...
and
reproductive system
The reproductive system of an organism, also known as the genital system, is the biological system made up of all the anatomical organs involved in sexual reproduction. Many non-living substances such as fluids, hormones, and pheromones are als ...
s and are classified as probably carcinogenic by the
World Health Organization
The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of ...
and in the United States by the
National Cancer Institute
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) coordinates the United States National Cancer Program and is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), which is one of eleven agencies that are part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. ...
and the
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
The Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) is a federal public health agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The agency focuses on minimizing human health risks associated with exposure to haz ...
.
[Fact Sheet on dioxin in feed and food.](_blank)
Europa, Brussels, 20 July 2001. The toxicity of dioxins and dioxin like
PCBs
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...
is mediated by their ability to bind strongly to the
aryl hydrocarbon
Aromatic compounds, also known as "mono- and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons", are organic compounds containing one or more aromatic rings. The parent member of aromatic compounds is benzene. The word "aromatic" originates from the past grouping ...
cell receptor
In biochemistry and pharmacology, receptors are chemical structures, composed of protein, that receive and transduce signals that may be integrated into biological systems. These signals are typically chemical messengers which bind to a recept ...
that is present in most animals.
Several
epidemiological
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
studies have observed a
correlation between high levels of dioxins and PCBs in humans and a wide variety of adverse health effects ''e.g.''
chloracne
Chloracne is an acne-like eruption of blackheads, cysts, and pustules associated with exposure to certain halogenated aromatic compounds, such as chlorinated dioxins and dibenzofurans. The lesions are most frequently found on the cheeks, behind t ...
, lowering of
IQ, dysfunction of the
thyroid gland and reduction of
thyroid hormone levels, elevated rates of
endometriosis in women, higher levels of
diabetes
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...
in women,
precocious puberty
In medicine, precocious puberty is puberty occurring at an unusually early age. In most cases, the process is normal in every aspect except the unusually early age and simply represents a variation of normal development. In a minority of childr ...
in females and subtle
developmental delay
Global developmental delay is an umbrella term used when children are significantly delayed in their cognitive and physical development. It can be diagnosed when a child is delayed in one or more milestones, categorised into motor skills, speech ...
in children, as evidenced by altered play activity.
Males appear to be more sensitive to poisoning by high levels of dioxins & dioxin-like PCBs and are more likely to develop severe symptoms ''e.g.'' young men poisoned by
TCDD (the most toxic dioxin) are less likely to father boys.
See Geusau ''et al.'' (2001)
who describe the clinical manifestations of two extremely severe (and probably
criminal) dioxin poisoning cases.
Much of the hazard posed by dioxins and PCBs comes from their
environmental persistence and their
lipophilic
Lipophilicity (from Greek λίπος "fat" and φίλος "friendly"), refers to the ability of a chemical compound to dissolve in fats, oils, lipids, and non-polar solvents such as hexane or toluene. Such non-polar solvents are themselves lipo ...
nature, resulting their propensity to accumulate in the
food chain
A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or algae which produce their own food via photosynthesis) and ending at an apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), de ...
, particularity in the fat of animals. About 80% of human exposure to dioxins and PCBs comes from animal derived foods ''e.g.'' poultry, beef and dairy.
However, the health effects and risks of long-term, low-level exposure to the general public cannot be observed directly, and are highly controversial. It is not known if the
dose response relationship at low-levels of exposure is sub-linear or
linear
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...
, or has a
threshold ''i.e.'' harmless at very low levels.
Risk assessments are further complicated by the observation that contamination typically involves a complex mixture of
related chemicals, the toxicity of each varies and has to be factored according to its Toxic Equivalency Factor (TEF) (where
TCDD = 1). The product of TEF is the
Toxic Equivalent Quantity (TEQ), and it is this value that is used in risk assessments (an on-lin
Toxic Equivalency Quantity Calculator.
The
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...
(EU) uses a
linear
Linearity is the property of a mathematical relationship ('' function'') that can be graphically represented as a straight line. Linearity is closely related to '' proportionality''. Examples in physics include rectilinear motion, the linear ...
dose response curve at low-levels of exposure, below the point where there are
epidemiological
Epidemiology is the study and analysis of the distribution (who, when, and where), patterns and determinants of health and disease conditions in a defined population.
It is a cornerstone of public health, and shapes policy decisions and evidenc ...
data. In other words, the EU assumes there is ''no'' safe level of dioxins and PCBs.
Accordingly, the European Union sets extremely stringent limits for dioxin and dioxin like PCBs in food, set just above the usual background levels found in various food categories ''e.g.'' fish, poultry, beef, pork etc. The limit set for dioxins in pork fat and meat is 1
pg/g TEQ ''i.e.'' 1
parts per trillion (ppt) (see swimming pool illustration). The maximum dioxin contamination measured in Irish pork was 0.2
ng/g TEQ fat (200
ppt),
equivalent to dispersing 10 drops of
TCDD throughout a 2.5 million litre
Olympic sized swimming pool.
Millstream Power Recycling Limited
[Wexford County Council planning file number 20040404](_blank)
(accessed 10 March 2010)
RTÉ News has named the company behind the contaminated animal feed as Millstream Power Recycling Limited, located just outside
Fenagh,
County Carlow in the south-east of the country. All production at the plant was stopped in the week before the announcement, when a link between it and the contaminated feed was first suspected. A representative of the firm, Edward Curtin, denied reports of a use of industrial oil in the contaminated pig feed, saying that, whilst oil is used to power the machinery used for processing, he is not certain that this is the source of the outbreak. The oil, at the firm's insistence, was only ever purchased from "legitimate suppliers" within the Republic of Ireland. The owner of Millstream Power Recycling Limited was named as Robert Hogg (43).
The Irish pork industry
The pork industry is the fourth biggest in Ireland's agriculture sector, worth around €400 million per year to the Irish economy. The country's farms produce over 3 million pigs per annum, almost 50% of which are consumed within the Republic. The remainder is exported, heavily to the neighbouring territories of Northern Ireland and
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, but it also features in grocery stores and processed meats throughout two continents – Europe and Asia. In 2007, Ireland exported 113,000
tons of pig meat, nearly half of which went to the United Kingdom. Over 500,000 live pigs were also shipped to the UK for slaughter and processing in that country. Ireland's other major customers of its pork are Germany, the buyer of 9,000 tons in 2007; France, Italy and several countries within the boundaries of Eastern Europe, which together purchased over 20,000 tons, Russia, the buyer of 6,600 tons, and China, which came into the ownership of 1,100 tons.
Effects
Within two days of the first announcement 1,800 jobs had been lost in the Irish pig industry with a further 6,000 jobs said to be at risk by Ireland's largest trade union
SIPTU
SIPTU (; ''Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union''; ga, An Ceardchumann SeirbhÃsÃ, TionsclaÃoch, Gairmiúil agus Teicniúil) is Ireland's largest trade union, with around 200,000 members. Most of these members are in the Rep ...
. Ireland's largest pig meat processor, Rosderra Irish Meats Group Ltd., turned away all of its 850 employees at four plants on 8 December, telling them to sign up for state unemployment benefits. Workers in the pork industry who were laid off in the wake of the crisis, including those from affected plants in Edenderry, Waterford and Kilkenny, were carried out a lunchtime protest at
Leinster House
Leinster House ( ga, Teach Laighean) is the seat of the Oireachtas, the parliament of Ireland. Originally, it was the ducal palace of the Dukes of Leinster. Since 1922, it is a complex of buildings, of which the former ducal palace is the core, ...
(government buildings in Dublin) on 11 December. SIPTU organised the demonstration citing "delays in resuming production" and the financial "dire straits" some workers were in as their reasons.
Processors halted the slaughtering of pigs until the Irish government promised them financial reparation. c.100,000 pigs were slaughtered and the estimated costs of the crisis was €100 million.
Reactions
Local reactions
Within hours a number of local newspapers in Ireland including the ''
Longford Leader
The ''Longford Leader'' is a weekly newspaper, which has published in Longford, Ireland since 1897.
History
The Longford Leader was founded, as ''The Longford Leader and Roscommon, Leitrim and Westmeath News'', as a local newspaper with a Nati ...
'' and the ''
Leitrim Observer
The ''Leitrim Observer'' is the oldest newspaper in County Leitrim. It is a weekly newspaper published every Wednesday and once competed with another newspaper called the ''Leitrim Post'' which was forced to close in 2009 during the economic cr ...
'' had reproduced copies of the same Press Association article.
National reactions
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland moved immediately to reassure the general public of Ireland. Speaking on
RTÉ Radio
RTÉ Radio is a division of the Irish national broadcasting organisation Raidió TeilifÃs Éireann. RTÉ Radio broadcasts four analogue channels and five digital channels nationwide.
Founded in January 1926 as 2RN, the first broadcaster in t ...
on the morning after the initial announcement, Deputy chief executive of the FSAI, Alan Reilly said it was "necessary as a precautionary measure" to remove all pork products from within the country. He said he "expected" pork products to be available again before the busy Christmas period got underway and is scheduled to meet government officials and retailers within hours. Irish hotels and guesthouses were immediately notified of the unfolding situation and asked to dispose of all their pork products by the
Irish Hotels Federation. Some
Tesco
Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...
outlets initially only gave refunds for their own branded pork produce but have since begun issuing refunds to all affected Irish products.
Superquinn however gave full refunds. A helpline set up by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland had received 3,000 calls within 72 hours of the outbreak.
International reactions
The UK's
Food Standards Agency
, type = Non-ministerial government department
, nativename =
, nativename_a =
, nativename_r =
, logo = Food Standards Agency.svg
, logo_width =
, logo_caption =
, seal =
, seal_width =
, seal_caption =
, picture =
, picture_width =
...
has said it does not believe its country's consumers face "significant risk" but it was still awaiting confirmation from the Irish authorities that the affected products had not been exported to its neighbour. Chief Scientist Andrew Wadge stated on his FSA blog that because dioxins remain in the body for approximately 30 years, exceeding regulatory limits for a few days has an "insignificant" effect on the individual consumer. The
Tolerable Daily Intake Tolerable daily intake (TDI) refers to the daily amount of a chemical that has been assessed safe for human being on long-term basis (usually whole lifetime). Originally acceptable daily intake (ADI) was introduced in 1961 to define the daily intake ...
standard sets a level that is without appreciable risk to health over a prolonged period.
In Asia, South Korea has banned imports and advised retailers to stop selling Irish produce, Singapore was following suit, whilst China has "provisionally" stopped importation. Japan has also said it may recall Irish pork products.
=Press
=
Within twelve hours of the pork recall announcement, the international press was carrying the story and within thirty-six hours there were over 1,700 newspaper articles on the crisis globally.
Tabloid ''
The Sun'' announced the story as "Toxic Irish pork is swept off shelves" whilst the ''
Daily Mirror
The ''Daily Mirror'' is a British national daily tabloid. Founded in 1903, it is owned by parent company Reach plc. From 1985 to 1987, and from 1997 to 2002, the title on its masthead was simply ''The Mirror''. It had an average daily print c ...
'' opted for "Poison pork panic: Irish pigs were fed on plastic bags". ''
Daily Express'' ran the story under the banner headline "Shoppers told: Don't eat toxic Irish pork" and the ''
Daily Mail'' went with the headline "British shoppers 'may not be able to tell whether they have Irish poison pork in their fridge'". ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...
'' had the headline "Shops rush to take Irish pork off shelves", warning that EU labelling laws meant pork originating in Ireland could have been labelled as British. ''
Le Monde
''Le Monde'' (; ) is a French daily afternoon newspaper. It is the main publication of Le Monde Group and reported an average circulation of 323,039 copies per issue in 2009, about 40,000 of which were sold abroad. It has had its own website si ...
'' had the top-five most e-mailed website headline "Dioxin alert in Irish pork" and ''
The Straits Times
''The Straits Times'' is an English-language daily broadsheet newspaper based in Singapore and currently owned by SPH Media Trust (previously Singapore Press Holdings). ''The Sunday Times'' is its Sunday edition. The newspaper was establish ...
'' website had the crisis as its second most popular story. ''
El PaÃs'' reported its concern that contaminated meat might have arrived in Spain via France and Portugal. ''
The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'', under the headline "Ireland investigating tainted pork" and ''
The Washington Post
''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'', under the headline "Ireland recalls pork products after dioxin test", covered the story in their own short ways.
AFP had the headline "Ireland scrambles to contain pork cancer scare" and the
Xinhua News Agency
Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: )J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English, or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. Xinhua ...
was one of the earliest news agencies to follow the story with headlines including "Irish police to investigate pork contamination".
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
tagged the story as "another red flag being waved over dinner tables this week with warnings from the Irish government not to eat its pork products", comparing the crisis to
bovine spongiform encephalopathy
Bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), commonly known as mad cow disease, is an incurable and invariably fatal neurodegenerative disease of cattle. Symptoms include abnormal behavior, trouble walking, and weight loss. Later in the course of t ...
,
bird flu and the
2008 Chinese milk scandal
The 2008 Chinese milk scandal was a significant food safety incident in China. The scandal involved Sanlu Group's milk and infant formula along with other food materials and components being adulterated with the chemical melamine, which res ...
.
Return to shelves
Superquinn has said it would have Irish pork, traceable to one farm in
County Kilkenny on shelves by 11 December, becoming the first Irish supermarket chain to do so. However, as early as 7pm on 10 December Irish retailer Dunnes had approved Galtee ham back on shelves for sale.
Other affected foods
Beef
Twenty one cattle farms in the Republic were discovered to have used the contaminated pig feed, whilst eight cattle farms used it in Northern Ireland.
It was disclosed on 18 December 2008 that beef samples from the affected farms had dioxin levels between 100 and 400 times above the legal limit.
The Irish authorities went to great lengths to insist that the threat to public health from Irish beef products, despite the extremely high dioxin levels, was insignificant.
It was noted that the official announcement made no reference to the dioxin levels being 100 to 400 times the legal limit.
In a statement the FSAI recommended "that cattle which are locked down from these 21 farms should now be slaughtered and not allowed enter the food chain".
There was to be no public recall of Irish beef. The
European Commission
The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...
was being kept informed.
However, 3,000 animals from these herds have been slaughtered and have already entered the food chain since September. The UK's Food Standards Agency was conducting tests to assess the level of dioxins present in Northern Irish cattle herds.
Milk
One farm in Northern Ireland has been identified as having fed contaminated animal feed to dairy cattle. Northern Ireland's
Minister of Health, Social Services and Public Safety,
Michael McGimpsey
Michael McGimpsey (born 1 July 1948) is a former Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) politician who was a Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly (MLA) for Belfast South from 1998 to 2016.
McGimpsey was born in Donaghadee, County Down and was educate ...
has announced restrictions on milk supplies in the province.
European Food Safety Authority's statement
In its statement issued on 10 December 2008, The
European Food Safety Authority
The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is the agency of the European Union (EU) that provides independent scientific advice and communicates on existing and emerging risks associated with the food chain. EFSA was established in February 2002, ...
(EFSA) considered that the levels of
dioxin & dioxin like
PCBs
Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are highly carcinogenic chemical compounds, formerly used in industrial and consumer products, whose production was banned in the United States by the Toxic Substances Control Act in 1979 and internationally by t ...
in Irish pork, before the contaminated pork was withdrawn, posed no risk to health.
The EFSA calculated a number of different exposure scenarios, and they found that if a consumer ate Irish pork each day over the 90-day period, 10% of which was contaminated, the "increase in the
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Notable p ...
of no concern for this single event". In the "very extreme case" of eating large amounts of 100% contaminated Irish pork every day over the 90-day period in question, the EFSA considered that "this unlikely scenario would reduce protection, but not necessarily lead to adverse health effects".
However the EFSA warns that its calculations are "Based on the very limited new data related to the current contamination incident of pork, which were made available to EFSA"
Statement of EFSA on the risks for public health due to the presence of dioxins in pork from Ireland
(Question No EFSA-Q-2008-777), Issued on 10 December 2008'' The EFSA Journal (2008) 911, 1 of 15 and concludes its statement with the "EFSA based this statement on a limited data set".
It also makes clear that its calculations assumed that exposure at these high levels only began in September 2008. If it would be found that the animal feed had been contaminated prior to September 2008 then it would be have to re-evaluate its findings.
The statement did not address the issue of contaminated beef.
Criminal investigation
A criminal investigation commenced in December 2008 and on 6 March 2010 it was reported in the ''
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
'' that a criminal prosecution would be taken in relation to the incident.
Civil case
Millstream Recycling Ltd. has taken a civil case against Gerard Tierney of
Blackrock
BlackRock, Inc. is an American multi-national investment company based in New York City. Founded in 1988, initially as a risk management and fixed income institutional asset manager, BlackRock is the world's largest asset manager, with trill ...
, and against his company Newtown Lodge Ltd. Millstream claims its pig feed products were contaminated by "defective" oil supplied by Mr. Tierney and his company.
Past contamination incidents
See also
Polychlorinated dibenzodioxins
See also
*
2013 horse meat scandal
The 2013 horse meat scandal was a food industry scandal in parts of Europe in which foods advertised as containing spicy beef were found to contain undeclared or improperly declared horse meat – as much as 100% of the meat content in some ca ...
*
List of food contamination incidents
Food may be accidentally or deliberately contaminated by microbiological, chemical or physical hazards. In contrast to microbiologically caused foodborne illness, the link between exposure and effect of chemical hazards in foods is usually complic ...
*
Pork in Ireland
Pork in Ireland has been a key part of the Irish diet since prehistory. Ireland's flora and fauna overwhelmingly arrived via a Neolithic land bridge from Great Britain prior to its submerging around 12,000 BP. When the very first hunter-gatherer ...
References
External links
Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI)RTÉ online news coveragePork contaminationat the ''
Irish Examiner''
RTÉ information on Irish pork recallFSAI Dioxins factsheetDioxins and PCBs explained (video)Irish Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and FoodMillstream Recycling Ltd. website(Google cache)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pork crisis, 2008 Irish
2008 health disasters
2008 in Ireland
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Pork
Pork is the culinary name for the meat of the domestic pig (''Sus domesticus''). It is the most commonly consumed meat worldwide, with evidence of pig husbandry dating back to 5000 BCE.
Pork is eaten both freshly cooked and preserved; ...
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
2008
File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
Health in the Republic of Ireland
Health disasters in Europe
Disasters in Ireland
Scandals in Ireland
2008 disasters in Ireland