Don't Let Them Eat Cake (Or Quiche)

07/01/11 -- Germany's agricultural ministry has announced the temporary closure of over 4,700 farms suspected of unwittingly using animal feed which may contain dioxin contamination.

German Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner said that the indications are that a "high level of illegal activity" had been involved.

Twenty-five German feed manufacturers are said to have been supplied with "up to" 3,000 MT of contaminated fatty acids - which were only meant for industrial use. The subsequently manufactured compound feed was then delivered mostly to pig and poultry farms.

Eggs from some of the suspect farms were exported to the Netherlands. These were then subsequently mixed with non-contaminated eggs to produce pasteurised liquid egg, an ingredient used widely in the manufacturer of cakes, say the Food Standards Agency here.

Some of this liquid egg product was then supplied to two UK manufacturers of cakes and quiches, which were then supplied to several major UK supermarkets.

As real men don't eat quiche then I'm not likely to be under any immediate threat. Of course, you will already know of my famed strict fitness regime, which consequently rules out the cake risk. The government have stressed that the lager contamination threat is officially classed as zero. Phew.