Officials: German feed company knew of high dioxin levels in March

A fats manufacturer supplying the German ready-made farm feed industry knew as early as last March - eight months earlier than previously thought - about elevated dioxin levels in its fat, a state official said Friday.

Harles and Jentzsch, which operates out of Uetersen, north-west of Hamburg, picked up the higher concentrations with its own tests, a spokesman for the Agriculture Ministry in the state of Schleswig- Holstein said, DPA reported.

Dioxin, which can cause cancer, was found in some of the fat samples at up to double the legal concentration.

The ministry said Harles and Jentzsch should have reported this to authorities immediately, even though the contaminant was later reduced below legal levels when the fat was mixed with other substances to make animal feed.

He said the fat should not have been sold at all.

Harles and Jentzsch declined to comment on the grounds that the matter was the subject of a legal investigation.

Thousands of farms in Germany have ceased shipping produce this week as the scare widens.

European Union officials say eggs from German hens that were given contaminated feed were exported to Britain and the Netherlands. The eggs may have contained double the level of dioxin allowed under highly restrictive EU rules.

However, public health officials have said that the dioxin concentration in the eggs was so low that they are unlikely to make people sick.