'Average' consumption of Irish pork would be 'of no concern,' the European Food Safety Authority said in a statement, adding that even eating large amounts of tainted pork only was unlikely to cause 'adverse health effects.'
The statement was a response to an urgent request by the European Commission on Monday for 'scientific and technical assistance' concerning the cancer-linked pork crisis.
Ireland sounded the alarm on Saturday, recalling all pork products made since September 1 after dioxins, which in high doses can cause cancer, were found in slaughtered pigs thought to have eaten tainted feed.
'In the most likely scenario, if someone ate an average amount of Irish pork each day throughout the period of the incident (90 days), 10 per cent of which was contaminated at the highest recorded concentration of dioxins, the body burden would increase by approximately 10 percent,' EFSA said.
The agency 'considers this increase to be of no concern for this single event,' it said.
However, 'in a very extreme case, if someone ate a large amount of Irish pork each day throughout the period of the incident ... 100 per cent of which was contaminated at the highest recorded concentration of dioxins, ... this unlikely scenario would reduce protection, but not necessarily lead to adverse health effects,' the statement said.
The agency, based in Parma, Italy, said it assumed 'that exposure at these high levels only began in September 2008 and that effective measures have now been taken to remove this excessive exposure from Irish pork and pork products.'
The European Commission said Monday that 12 EU states and nine other countries around the world including Japan and South Korea might have received contaminated pork or pig meat products.
The European Commission confirmed on Tuesday that the source of the dioxin contamination was a plant in southeast Ireland which recycles bread and dough to make animal feed. -- AFP