LONDON, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Britain's billion-dollar dairy industry was reeling after European Union inspectors found cheese contaminated with antibiotics, dyes and detergents.
As a result, the European Commission announced a series of random inspections and threatened court action unless Britain could assure its health and safety procedures protect human health, the Times of London said Saturday.
The announced inspections of British milk facilities came after the commission issued an export ban on Bowland Dairy Products Ltd. of Nelson, Lancashire, the Times said. EU inspectors visiting the site found raw milk with traces of antibiotics and tainted with detergents and dyes being used to make curd cheese.
British officials said the country's dairy products met accepted standards and were safe for human consumption and said the EU actions attacked "the competence of the Food Standards Agency."
It was not clear whether Bowland's products made it to supermarket shelves as pizza toppings, although British officials said they didn't, the Times said.
