No government agency has acted to prevent the sale of Belgian chocolates in a number of Dublin outlets despite warnings that some of their products could be tainted with cancer-causing dioxins.
The Irish Times has established that some outlets in Dublin were yesterday selling Belgian chocolates despite their inclusion in a Food Safety Authority list of pro ducts to be withdrawn from sale.
A spokeswoman for the authority said she was surprised that outlets were continuing to sell Belgian chocolates after four separate alerts were issued to the public and after all relevant retailers had been contacted.
She said it was the responsibility of the Department of Health to liaise with retailers about withdrawing products from their shelves. A spokesman for the Department was not available for comment last night.
The spokeswoman said several retailers had supplied the authority with certificates from their suppliers claiming the ingredients did not contain dioxin. However, she said such certificates could not be validated and the food products named in the authority's list, including eggs, poultry, beef and chocolate, should be withdrawn immediately.
The Irish Times was able to buy Belgian chocolates from a Leonidas store in Royal Hibernian Way in the city centre yesterday. Several customers made purchases from the store, which was not displaying any information about the possible risks of consuming Belgian chocolate.
Some retailers have told the authority that their products were sourced after the problems about tainted animal feed were revealed and consequently their products were safe. However, the authority said such claims had to be independently verified, and the Belgian authorities had failed to provide any information on what farms were clear of contamination.
The withdrawal of Belgian foods and the ban which followed arose when a consignment of animal feed was produced using fat which had been contaminated by dioxin. The feed was distributed to poultry, pork and cattle farms, and the dioxin was later detected in meat, eggs and milk.