Abu Dhabi bans Irish meat after an international alert

Abu Dhabi: The emirate has banned the import and sale of meat from Ireland following reports of dioxin contamination, a senior official told Gulf News.

"Our extensive inspections in the Abu Dhabi market after receiving an international alert found no Irish beef," said Mohammad Jalal Al Reyaysa, Manager of the Communication and Information Department at Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority (ADFCA).

"Abu Dhabi doesn't directly import beef from Ireland, but still we did not want to take chances," he said. "We found some pork from Ireland imported through the UK, at two stalls (specially licenced for non-Muslims in the city) that were not contaminated," he said.

"But to be on the safe side we ordered it withdrawn from the shelves."

Waste oil

The ban will continue until the contamination issue is sorted out, said Al Reyaysa. Last week, more than 20 countries cleared their shelves of Irish pork after dioxin up to 200 times the legal levels were found on 10 pig farms, Reuters reported. Ireland, one of the world's top five beef exporters, said there was no need to recall any Irish beef products because the level and extent of contamination in the affected animals was much lower than the levels discovered at the pig farms.

Used oil from electrical transformers may have caused the dioxin contamination in animal feed, the Irish Times reported last week.

The publication, without citing sources, said the contamination may have been caused by waste oil originating in Northern Ireland.