China bans food imports over dioxin worry

BEIJING, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- China says it has banned imports of German pork and eggs over concerns of contamination by toxic dioxins.

China's product safety watchdog agency informed Chinese firms to immediately stop imports of all "German-produced edible pork and egg products" and ordered inspections on goods imported from Germany before Tuesday, EUobserver reported Thursday.

The move came after German authorities found that dioxin-contaminated animal food had been used in pig and poultry farms.

Dioxin is a toxic substance which in high doses can cause cancer and miscarriages.

It was found last week that a German firm, Harles und Jentzsch, had mixed industrial fat destined for bio-fuel production with oils used by animal feed producers and sold some 3,000 tons of it, the report said.

Tests on animal food produced with the illegal fatty mixture found levels of dioxin at 77 times the allowable limit.

German authorities destroyed some 100,000 eggs last week and shut down 4,700 farms, most of which were cleared after tests.