Belgian authorities decide to close farms because of dioxin scare

Belgian authorities have decided to temporarily close more farms after they found traces of a carcinogenic chemical in animal feed, authorities said Monday. The food safety agency closed 96 pig and chicken farms Friday as it traced the source of dioxins found by a Dutch firm last week back to a vat of Belgian authorities have decided to temporarily pork fat. The fat is mixed with other feed for the livestock industry.

Over the weekend, it became clear that more feed might be affected and the authorities planned to close an undisclosed number of additional farms that could have used it, Pascal Hoebaert of the food safety agency told VRT network.

Seven years ago, a dioxin crisis led to the slaughter of millions of chickens and thousands of pigs in Belgium.

The agency said levels of contamination were far below the levels found in 1999 when dioxins entered the human food chain through contaminated animal feed.

Dioxin accumulates in the body and has been linked to cancer, birth defects and organ failure, reports the AP. I.L.