Contaminated meat found in Estonian schools

TALLINN - About 52 tons of the 120 tons of pork imported to Estonia from Ireland since Sept. 1 hasreached consumers, including schools and kindergartens, officials reported.

Experts have still to find out how much, if any, of the meat brought into Estonia contains a higher level ofdioxins than permitted.

Ago Partel, director general of the EstonianVeterinary and Food Board, told BNSthat imported Irish pork was delivered from the logistics center to 300customers, including schools, kindergartens and catering companies.

The usual size of a delivery was from 10-100 kilograms.

Partel said that no Irish pork has been used in meat products made in Estonia, such as sausages.

According to revised data, 68 tons of the imported Irish meat has not leftthe warehouse.

The heads of the EU veterinary authorities are scheduled to meet in Brusselson Dec. 10 to discuss further steps.

"Hopefully Ireland will unconditionally take back all the meat. If not,we'll have to decide what to do with the pork brought into Estonia," Partel .

The Irish government said on Saturday it had ordered a recall of its locallyproduced pork products due to contamination with potentially cancer-causingdioxins. It said that laboratory tests of animal feed and pork fat samplesconfirmed the presence of dioxins, with toxins at 80-200 times the safe limits.