A scare over contaminated German eggs, poultry and pork has prompted Agriculture Minister, Ivan Fuksa, to order increased controls of all food products considered a potential risk.

Prague Post reported last week that the action follows revelations that a company in the north German state of Schleswig Holstein supplied some 25 animal feed manufacturers with fatty acids contaminated by dioxin. The oils were to be used in biofuels and instead made their way into the animal feed.

Dioxin has since been found in eggs and poultry, and tests from the facility owned by the firm, Harles and Jentzsch dating from March 2010 show more than double the acceptable level of the chemical. Dioxin, a by-product of pesticide and chemical manufacturing among other things, is highly toxic and can be cancerous in large doses. Although some of those foods have been exported – including to the United Kingdom and the Netherlands – German officials insist none of the contaminated food reached the Czech Republic.

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