Veterinary inspectors from the Bulgarian National Veterinary Services found in Bulgarian storage facilities 60 tons of pork imported from Ireland, and issued a ban on its sale on fears that it may contain a high level of dioxin, the Bulgarian Agriculture and Foods Ministry announced on Monday.
The meat, which entered the country earlier this month, was found during inspections on Monday morning at refrigerating facilities in the national capital Sofia and the second largest city Plovdiv.
In addition, the inspectors have asked a private company with several truckloads of meat from Ireland on their way to Bulgaria to send the meat back.
All 112 refrigerating storage facilities across Bulgaria will be checked by the end of the day and all of Bulgaria's 437 meat packers by Dec. 10.
Bulgaria was alerted about the pork imports through European Union's Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF).
An order, issued by the Bulgarian National Veterinary Services Director Iordan Voynov, mandates that all meat from Ireland as well as all products made with such meat, should be confiscated. If tests show that the meat or any of the products contains dioxin, they would be destroyed.
The samples are going to be sent for analysis to international specialized and accredited laboratories and the results are expected in three to five days.
An emergency center has been established with the veterinary service to coordinate the efforts in this situation.
Bulgaria has sent an inquiry to the Irish veterinary service about meat batches with high dioxin levels.
Source:Xinhua
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