990623 EU Reassures As Belgium Restarts Meat Sales

Brussels - The European Union sought to reassure countries around the world it had its biggest food safety scare since mad cow disease under control as Belgium announced some meat would return to the shops.

The crisis, which began 11 days ago when Belgium announced the discovery of high levels of cancer-causing dioxin in poultry and eggs, has since spread to pork, beef and dairy goods, sparking widespread consumer concern and shaking public confidence in food controls.

Countries inside and outside the EU withdrew Belgian goods from their shops and some went further, imposing blanket trade bans on EU meat and dairy produce.

Last week the United States said it would stop all imports of EU pork and poultry as a precautionary measure and others including Hong Kong, Russia, Singapore, Israel, Malaysia and South Korea extended bans beyond Belgium.

Commission spokesman Gerry Kiely said representatives from the EU's trading partners had been called to a meeting in Brussels to explain the EU's new controls “and we would hope to get these disproportionate measures on all EU products lifted.”

Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene, facing an election in just five days time, announced on Tuesday the domestic ban on poultry slaughtering would be lifted on Wednesday, with the block on beef and pork ending 24 hours later if a full list of affected farms could be drawn up.

“From midnight tonight it will be possible to start slaughtering and deliveries of Belgian chickens from three quarters of the Belgian companies,” he told a news conference.

“We are doing the impossible, are using every means so that before the end of the week...the situation is normal again.”

Products sold in Belgium and elsewhere must be certified free from the contamination, which has been sourced to several animal feed companies that were supplied with tainted fat.

The feed is believed to have been delivered to over 1,400 farms since the middle of January.

The EU, invoking emergency powers, banned products from the affected farms but EU member states cannot block all Belgian meat products as some have threatened to do, Kiely said.

Dehaene said samples taken at three animal feed firms in the country had tested positive for dioxin -- one of the most toxic substances produced by industry -- leaving six firms in the clear. He said only chickens had shown clear signs of contamination and there were no risks regarding pork or beef.

French Farm Minister Jean Glavany called for an EU-wide ban on feeding livestock with meat and bone meal after the head of France's ruling Socialist party Francois Hollande called for the establishment of an EU-wide health agency.

And EU health ministers, meeting in Luxembourg, appealed for more information to calm rattled consumers and indicated measures would remain in force until they were convinced the situation in Belgium was under control.

“We will keep our total ban because there is no certainty at the moment about the list of farms which received the feed. We favour stronger Europe-wide controls,” Italian Health Minister Rosaria Bindi said after the meeting.

The Commission and Belgium's trading partners have been outraged by a delay in publicising the contamination -- the authorities first became aware of it in late April.

Legal action against Belgium has not been ruled out. “It's no secret we were less than impressed with the way Belgium has handled this,” Kiely said.

Latest Belgian media estimates put the cost of the crisis at 30 billion Belgian francs ($767 million) a month. Budget Minister Herman Van Rompuy said on Tuesday the country's budget would be affected for the next two years.

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