German sector rides through nitrofen storm

GERMANY – Milk producers have taken firm action to dampen fears that dairy products have been affected by the country’s nitrofen scandal.

Two weeks ago, reports suggested that there was a possibility of contaminated feed having been delivered to both organic and conventional dairy farms as well as pig and poultry units.

Core of the crisis was 72 tonnes of organically grown feed wheat that has been stored in a former herbicide plant in eastern Germany, where experts now believe the feed was contaminated with a carcinogenic nitrofen herbicide.

Use of the weed killer has been banned in East Germany for ten years and in West Germany for 20 years. In spite of this, the former storage shed now used for wheat was found to still be heavily contaminated.
The wheat was taken to feed mill where it was mixed with 6,000 tonnes of grain and finally deposited in a batch of 50,000 tonnes of feed for cattle, pigs and hens.
By 15 June, German authorities had closed down some 500 farms with all products destroyed. Most of the farms were poultry and pig production units. Dangerously contaminated eggs and poultry meat was also confiscated from stores and supermarkets, as was bakery ware produced from suspect eggs.

No milk products have been affected through cows eating contaminated food. Although several supermarkets withdrew organic milk from sale along with all other suspect products when the scandal first broke, milk marketing group Milchindustrieverbond (MIV) claims that the situation has now returned to normal.

Speaking to ConnectingDairy, MIV spokesman Michael Brandl said: “We have reacted to consumer fears by collating the results of scientific tests on milk carried out at the Dairy Institute of the University of Kiel and circulating those to processors. They in turn can present their customers with factual evidence that milk is perfectly safe.”