The UK’s Food Standards Agency has revealed that there was a four-week delay between the collection of milk samples that were found to be tainted with cancer-causing dioxins and their containment.

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It was announced yesterday (5 February) that milk produced at two dairy farms in Northern Ireland has been blocked from entering the food chain, after tests found they contained illegal levels of dioxins. 


Contamination of the milk is likely to stem from dioxin residues in the fat of animals that had eaten contaminated feed supplied to pig and cattle farmers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland last December, the FSA said.


A spokesperson for the FSA told just-food that the samples of milk found to contain dioxins were taken on 7 January. The food safety body did not receive the results of tests confirming contamination until last Wednesday.


“That’s just how long the testing process takes,” the spokesperson said.

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The delay means that an unspecified amount of contaminated milk made its way into the food chain before the FSA swung into action, restricting milk from the affected farms.


However, the FSA was quick to point out that the “dilution factor” means that tainted milk that made its way into the food chain and was then mixed with milk from other sources was likely to contain legal levels of dioxin by the time it reached end users.


“There is no threat to public health,” the spokesperson said.


The FSA revealed that it is continuing to monitor all products coming out of farms that were supplied with tainted feed.