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Chile's pork industry suffers another dioxin blow
Chile's Health Ministry have quarantined four more
pork factories after Canadian health officials confirmed high levels of the
carcinogenic chemical dioxin in their pork meat products.
The announcement increases the number of Chilean pork factory quarantines
to ten, restricting local and exported meat sales.
Public Health
Undersecretary Jeannette Vega confirmed that all infected meat will be
destroyed, which includes sacrificing live pigs testing positive for higher than
normal dioxin levels.
In early July, South Korea detected higher than
permitted levels of dioxin in a package of imported Chilean pork and eliminated
the rest of the packages received. Shortly there after, South Korean officials
placed a ban on Chile's pork imports.
Dioxin is measured in the pig's fat
by picograms, which is one trillionth of a gram. For pig meat to pass South
Korean health standards, it must not contain more than 2 picograms.
In
late July, Japan also declared a temporary suspension of Chilean pork imports
due to the South Korean incident. This is a severe blow to Chile's pork export
industry, as Japan represents one of Chile's three most important export
markets, consuming 33 percent of total Chilean pork in 2007.
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