Belgium Restocks Its Shelves
Belgium shrugged off international condemnation and resumed stocking shelves Friday with local meats and delicacies that many countries around the world have banned for fear they contain cancer-causing dioxin.
The Belgian government insists it has lists of farms that offer safe poultry, eggs, pork and beef. More than a thousand other farms are still barred from selling products suspected of containing the chemical.
Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene said 17 percent of the country's cattle farms, 40 percent of pork companies and almost half the poultry farms were prohibited from selling.
Â"I am convinced there is no more dioxin in food,Â" Dehaene said Friday. Â"Belgian production is OK again. Now we have to convince the (European Union) that our tests prove there are no more problems.Â"
However, the EU Executive Commission rejected Belgium's attempt Friday to obtain certificates that would allow the country to resume exports.
EU officials said they still awaited a list of the farms and companies that may have been affected and insisted on a full explanation of the roots of the contamination.
Â"Belgium is still unable to tell what was the origin (of the pollution),Â" EU Farm Commissioner Franz Fischler told reporters.
It remained unlikely all shops would be back to normal by Sunday, when Dehaene faces national elections suddenly dominated by the dioxin crisis.
Belgium beef, poultry, pork, eggs, milk and byproducts were banned by most nations, including the United States, last week after it was discovered that large quantities had been contaminated by dioxin. The contamination apparently was caused by dioxin-laced animal feed.
The EU was considering legal action against Brussels for the way the Belgian government had handled the biggest food scare since the 1996 mad cow crisis.
The government knew of dioxin contamination in poultry a month before telling the public and the EU. It admitted it made a mistake but has insisted the world was overreacting to the scandal.
On Thursday, Jordan banned imports of meat and dairy products from Belgium, France and the Netherlands and insisted other EU nations provide certificates saying their food is free of dioxins.
The Belgian food and farm sectors estimate losses from the crisis at more than $850 million.
Citing the Belgium food scandal as a warning, a U.N. food agency urged governments to tighten regulations on the handling and storage of animal feed to prevent further cases of contamination.
Written by Raf Casert
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