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The „dioxin case“ which has its origin in Germany, has been closely followed in the Czech Republic by the National Contact Point (NCP) operated at the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA). EU member states, linked together with this system, inform one another about the risky food and feed in the European market.

On 4^th January 2011, the Czech NCP officers contacted the German NCP and the General Directorate for Health and Consumer Protection (DG SANCO) of the European Commission with a written request for continuous provision of information on this particular case, as the NCP personnel as well as the Czech public learnt about the issue from mass-media. Through the RASFF NCP, Czech surveillance authorities began to continuously monitor the situation, took necessary steps to acquaint themselves with nature of the incident and acted to avoid potential imports of products contaminated with dioxins to the Czech Republic.

The investigation of surveillance bodies in Germany revealed that the German company “Harles und Jentzsch”, a producer of vegetable feed fats, used as a raw material a mixture of fatty acids containing dioxins, far exceeding the maximum allowable limits. These fats were delivered to 25 German producers of feed compounds and consequently used as a feed for poultry, pigs, cattle and rabbits. Several thousand farms in Germany were quarantined and surveillance authorities started to take samples of products of animal origin. Above-the-limit concentrations of dioxins were detected mainly in samples of eggs (33 cases out of 209) and in meat of lying chickens (3 out of 13). Six samples out of 269 portions of pork meat showed above-the-limit concentrations too. No dioxins were found in beef and milk.

The results of investigation in Germany showed that more than 4500 kg of meat originating from a farm, where an occasional use of dioxin-contaminated feeding compound occurred, was delivered to the Czech Republic. After receiving the information from RASFF, the Czech surveillance authorities launched immediate inspections of distribution chains in the Czech Republic. Part of the consignment was detained and subjected to samplings for laboratory analysis. The remaining amount of the consignment was delivered to retail customers, especially in public catering. None of the laboratory results indicated exceeded amounts of dioxins. Due to the delayed notification, that was received from DG SANCO after a repeated reminder, the CAFIA Director General, Mr. Jakub Šebesta, addressed a complaint to the European Commission.

Since the outbreak, the Czech surveillance authorities sampled selected foodstuffs of animal origin as well as feed compounds from Germany. So far, the CAFIA has analyzed 30 samples of eggs, poultry, pork and beef meat. State Veterinary Administration has tested 45 samples. None of them was above the limit. The results suggest that any foodstuffs/raw materials with high levels of dioxins have not reached the Czech food market. The European Commission has also rejected the opinion that information on distribution of contaminated feed fat or feed in the Czech Republic territory were released through RASFF, as mistakenly reported in some media.