"A test on the meat has shown high levels of dioxin content," Gert Hahne, a spokesman for the agriculture ministry in the state of Lower Saxony, told AFP. "The animals must be slaughtered and will then be incinerated."

The farm concerned was one of 4,700 banned last week from selling their produce after it emerged that up to 150,000 tonnes of potentially dangerous animal feed had been delivered nationwide, mostly for poultry and pigs.

The spokesman said no meat from pigs that may have eaten the suspect feed was in circulation. Like the other farms, it was not allowed to move or sell any animals or other products while test results were pending.

Previously, only eggs and three chickens had been confirmed to be contaminated, according to the federal agriculture ministry, and all but 490 farms had been given the all-clear as of late Tuesday.

The health scare, which began last week with authorities destroying 100,000 eggs, prompted South Korea late last week to ban German pork imports and Slovakia to halt sales of German eggs and poultry meat.

This was despite the fact that the German government has insisted throughout that there was no immediate risk to human health, and the European Commission in Brussels calling import restrictions by other countries disproportionate.

Public trust in Germany has also been shaken, with demand for organic eggs, unaffected by the scare, shooting up, according to experts and shopkeepers. Anecdotal evidence suggests that sales of organic meat are also on the rise.

Authorities believe that the root of the contamination is a firm in northern Germany suspected of knowingly selling late last year to some 25 animal feed makers around 3,000 tonnes of fatty acids only meant for industrial uses.

The German government said that it believed none of the suspect animal feed was exported, but the European Commission said on Monday that some had made it to Denmark and France.

Around 136,000 eggs were also exported to the Netherlands, some of which ended up in Britain.

The German government has vowed to crack down hard on those behind the scare and has said it wants to look at tightening regulations in order to prevent a repeat.

"The damage that has been caused is immense, not only financially but also when it comes to consumer trust ... This is a scandal, as consumers who expect safe food were duped," federal Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said on Monday.

"This incident must and will have consequences."

Measures could include wider monitoring of the industry, doing more to ensure that production of ingredients for feed and industrial uses is kept separate and tougher penalties, the minister said.

The European Commission warned Tuesday it might consider EU-wide regulations if manufacturers failed to do enough, following what a spokesman in Brussels called a "disappointing" meeting late Monday with animal feed firms.

Dutch say imported-eggs products safe
The Hague (AFP) Jan 11, 2011 - Dutch health authorities on Tuesday said dioxin levels in food made with 50,000 tainted eggs imported from Germany meet legal standards.

A German firm is suspected of knowingly selling some 3,000 tonnes of fatty acids laced with dioxin -- which can cause cancer -- meant only for industrial use in November and December in Germany where they were used in animal feed.

About 136,000 eggs from an affected German farm were shipped to the Netherlands where they were processed by Dutch companies, the NVWA health service said.

"The sanitary monitoring service (NVWA) announces that products made with eggs that were blocked last week in the Netherlands as a precautionary measure meet (legal) standards," a statement said.

The dioxin level in the suspect products was "well below" legal levels, it added.

The European Commission said on Monday that some of the tainted feed was exported to France and Denmark. Some of the 136,000 eggs exported to the Netherlands ended up in Britain which would have to carry out its own analysis, said the NVWA.

A shipment of 50,000 German eggs which were exported on December 15 and mixed with 14 tonnes of other eggs in the Netherlands ended up in three product items, of which one was blocked and frozen in the Netherlands, according to the EU's executive.

German authorities destroyed around 100,000 eggs and late on Thursday Germany closed down around 4,700 of its 375,000 farms across the country while tests were conducted.

Most of the farms have since been reopened, however, and the government voiced hopes that others would swiftly follow suit. As of Monday, 558 farms were still subject to restrictions.

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