pork

Romania will export to EU member states five-digit tonnages of pork annually starting 2012, as the European Commission decided the country may resume pork exports, Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara told MEDIAFAX Tuesday.

Agriculture Minister Valeriu Tabara said Tuesday that Romania may not stop importing pork from Germany, which Romanian producers suspect may be exporting meat contaminated with dioxin, a carcinogen.

Romanian pig breeders say pork contaminated with dioxin, a carcinogen, may have made its way into Romania from Germany and ask that imports from this country be stopped.

The European Commission might allow Romania to resume exports of pork and pork products on the EU market, following a request addressed by Romanian authorities in June.

Of the 133.6 tons of pork meat imported by Romania from Ireland, 34 tons were seized, while the rest was processed. The national food safety authority decided, through the rapid alert system, to pull these products off the market, said food safety authority head Radu Roatis.

Over 3.5 tons of contaminated pork from Ireland, which reached a warehouse in Romania’s capital city Bucharest, were supplied to five companies located in three Romanian counties, Csutak Nagy Laszlo, vice-president of Romania’s sanitary-veterinary and food safety authority, said Wednesday.