Dioxin in Beef

What is next in the "You are what you eat" series?

Today's news reports discovered that beef from Ireland were also fed Dioxin containing feed. What will be next? Let's check the poultry industry, the fishery industry.

The Irish are not planning a recall of the beef, even though they discovered use of contaminated feed on at least 3 farms. They said that animals had amounts higher than the legal limit, but not as high as observed in the swine operations.

What exactly does that mean? Dioxin laced oil was used years ago in the United States to spray on roads and other areas where dust was a problem. In Love Canal in New York State, an entire town was abandoned when they discovered that residents were exposed to high levels of dioxin from dumping that had occurred many years prior.

Residents had to leave with just the clothes on their backs, because of the level of contamination in their homes.

Let's ask ourselves as food manufacturers to step back and ensure that our practices are protecting the public. We are responsible for protecting the public and we must not take this responsibility lightly. The lives it affects could be our own children's and grandchildren's and our own.

Be careful out there,
Rudy