Vitamin A and E production at BASF in Germany has taken a hit following on from a fire at its aroma ingredients plant at the Ludwigshafen complex, near Frankfurt.
The approval of measures to boost dioxin monitoring by Germany last week has so far failed to stem the unease sparked by the situation as thousand protested in Berlin over the weekend and Russia announced a ban on German pork imports.
The European Commission has given its strongest signal yet that legislation tightening up the monitoring of dioxins in the food and feed chain will follow in the wake of the German crisis.
A further 934 pig and poultry farms were closed in Germany over the weekend following the discovery that previously unknown batches of dioxin-contaminated feed had been sold.
German authorities have said up to 3,000 tonnes of dioxin-contaminated animal feed additive may have been sold – almost six times more than previously estimated - as more details about the crisis emerged yesterday.