Govt awaits results on Thai chicken

THE Department of Agriculture is awaiting results from four batches of Thai chicken sent to a Belfast laboratory to undergo tests for the presence of banned drugs.

Since March, when the EU ordered tests on all chicken imports from Thailand, five consignments have been sent for testing by the Department. One of them was found to contain Nitrofurans, an antibiotic banned in Europe because of fears it could cause cancer.

The Department said the banned drug had been detected in a consignment of Thai chicken when it arrived at Dublin Port from Britain in April.

The single contaminated batch, consisting of 16 jumbo boxes of chicken weighing 54kg each was destroyed by department officials.

The contaminated consignment had travelled from Thailand to a Border Inspection Post at Felixstowe where British authorities failed to carry out the obligatory checks.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said the British Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was notified of the incident, and had provided assurances that all future consignments of poultry meat from Thailand would be tested in accordance with EU requirements.

Last night, the Department confirmed a further four batches of Thai chicken had been sent to Belfast for testing under the EU regulations.

Meanwhile, Department officials yesterday called into question the feasibility of EU measures aimed at preventing banned antibiotics reaching the consumer.

Although all chicken imports from Thailand have to be tested for nitrofurans and another banned antibiotic, chloramphenicol, as soon as they arrive in the EU, there are just two European laboratories capable of testing for the drugs.

Paddy Rogan of the veterinary health section of the Department of Agriculture said the EU Commission's decision to test all imports of chicken from Thailand could not be backed up by facilities on the ground. "There are only a very small number of labs within the EU with the capacity to do the test," said Mr Rogan. "It's one thing issuing an edict but it's another to have the capability to carry it out. If we have a limited test capacity within the 15 EU members how can you test?"

All Irish tests must be done in a British government lab in Northern Ireland because no facility in the Republic is licensed to test the banned antibiotics. The only other suitable lab is in the Netherlands.