By Anthony O. Miller
THE HEALTH Ministry yesterday removed Jacques brand biscuits from the list of 103 Belgian products suspected of poisoning by dioxin, a highly toxic compound that causes cancer and grotesque birth deformities.
The action was the third such by the ministry this week for products wrongly placed on its June 11 list of 104 suspected Belgian food imports and four types of imported animal feeds.
The six Jacques-brand biscuits removed from the list were: the 45-gram Fourre Pralines (batch #D5389A4, expiry 01.10.99); 50-gram Milk Biscuits (batch #D32389A4, expiry 01.12.99); 45-gram Noisettes (batch #D4387B1, expiry 01.10.99); 38-gram Biscuite 100 (batch #D4383A4, expiry 01.09.99); 45-gram Praline 100 (batch #D2481A4, expiry 01.11.99); and 47-gram Mocca Rhum (batch #D2383B1, expiry 01.09.99).
Five additional batches of Barry Callebaut industrial raw chocolate were also removed from the suspect list yesterday. Nine batches of Barry Callebaut raw chocolate were scratched from the list on Thursday.
Manufacturers using Barry Callebaut raw chocolates can contact the Health Ministry for a list of the relevant batch numbers and expiry dates.
On Monday, the ministry removed Lu brand’s Choco Prince and Pim’s biscuits from its June 11 list of 104 suspect brand-name products. Health Department officials have said dioxin contamination is not a major problem in Cyprus.
Faced with so many list reversals, the Health Ministry has asked Belgium to state what food products it knows to be dioxin-tainted, so Cyprus can destroy any it finds, and can return for sale those items wrongfully swept from store shelves.
The Republic has impounded tons of food products and animal feed from Belgium, and ordered food stores to strip shelves of all Belgian foods on the June 11 list with a January 15-June 1 production date, and hold them for possible destruction. Stores failing to withdraw the banned items face their confiscation and fines.
The Verkest fats and oils company, of Ghent, Belgium, supplied dioxin- poisoned fats to animal feed producers in Belgium, Holland and France. Those companies then supplied feed to poultry, pig and cattle farms in their own countries, and Germany and Spain.
The contamination sparked an EU ban on the sale or transfer of Belgian- produced animal feeds, raw food and processed food products. Countries throughout the world banned the import of various raw and processed foods from Belgium and other affected EU countries. Cyprus followed suit.
