990640 Belgium Food Scare Under Control

Brussels, Belgium - The Belgian government tried to convince a suspicious world Wednesday that its dioxin food scandal was under control, despite a surprise shift in suspicions over who was to blame.

The government said that a Spanish producer of fat used in animal feed was responsible for the dioxin contamination. Up until then, authorities had blamed a Belgian fat producer 110 miles away.

Despite the change, Belgian Health Minister Luc Van den Bossche insisted Wednesday the number of farms affected by the contamination is the same because both companies had the same customers.

However, the new revelation also forced authorities to warn Spain it had imported products that might be tainted with the cancer-causing chemical.

Many nations were unconvinced by the minister's reassurances and some sort of ban on Belgian, and some European Union foodstuffs remained in effect from the United States to Russia.

A Russian official said Brussels failed to provide assurances that new shipments of food were dioxin free. “We have sent several inquiries to Belgium, but none of them has produced a coherent answer,” Russian's chief veterinary official Vyacheslav Avilov said.

Belgium beef, poultry, pork, eggs and byproducts were banned by most nations last week after it was discovered that large quantities had been contaminated by dioxin. The contamination was caused by dioxin-laced animal feed.

The scandal represents the biggest health scare in Europe since Britain's 1996 mad cow crisis over contaminated beef.

The Belgian government had been working on the assumption that the dioxin contamination originated from the Verkest animal feed fattener company. But on Tuesday the two heads of Verkest were released and the head of a different company, Fogra, was arrested.

Van den Bossche said the case was crystal clear. “Last week we said we knew the origin (of the contamination) but not the name, so now today we can name the source - Fogra,” he said.

The head of Fogra remained behind bars after Tuesday's arrest and Belgium warned Spanish authorities the company had also exported fat to Spain.

The EU's Executive Commission warned Spain to trace Fogra's exports and check the distribution of potentially contaminated feed for animals.

In Madrid, the Agriculture Ministry said 140 tons of frying oil from Fogra had been shipped to the northeast Spanish region of Tarragona in late April and early May, then transported to four provinces. It has now all been seized.

The ministry accepts the Belgian authorities' certification that the oil is not contaminated with dioxin, although it is up to the provincial authorities to decide whether to release the oil, said Antonio Mizcoc, a ministry spokesman.

The stunning lack of any controls on what goes into animal feed has angered many Belgians, especially after it became clear that reject frying oil and mechanical oil could easily be mixed to produce a dioxin-laced potion. Fogra readily admitted quality control was not the company's responsibility.

The company's lawyer said Fogra has “no obligation to check the quality” of its product, adding that the company had followed similar practices for 30 years.

Lingering suspicions - despite the lifting of the ban on most domestic products in Belgian supermarkets - has led to rushes on some unlikely gastronomic havens.

In Canterbury, England, the Asda supermarket is now a popular place for Belgians.

Store manager Peter Murray said that over the past two weeks the increase in sales was incredible.

“The situation in Belgium is apparently still bad and shoppers are finding it hard to find groceries on the shelves after all the products were withdrawn,” he said.

Asda now has a welcome sign proclaiming “Welcome to our Belgian customers.”

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