GERMANY: German agriculture officials gathered for a crisis meeting in Berlin yesterday to head off a possible European Commission ban on German organic food.
The Commission is concerned at Berlin's handling of the contamination of organically grown grain with nitrofen, a banned herbicide suspected of causing cancer.
The tainted grain found its way into the food chain, prompting a food scare in Germany and the destruction of thousands of chickens and eggs.
The scare was believed to be under control until Ms Renate Künast, the Agriculture Minister, said on Thursday that tainted feed may have been used for three years rather just six months on conventional as well as organic farms. "There are contradictory statements about what products are affected," said a spokeswoman for Mr David Byrne, the Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection.
The Commission could impose a ban as early as today if it feels it is necessary.
German agricultural officials met yesterday to produce a report aimed at calming the fears of the Commission.
But already Belgium has announced that it plans to ban from today all imports of untested organic animal products and feed from Germany.
Ms Magda Aelvoet, the Belgian Health Minister, said: "What a confusion. First the Germans tell us they know the source of the contamination, then they say they don't.
"Then they tell us it is only organic produce affected, then not."
The Commission is likely to take a dim view of Belgium's decision to act alone and propose a ban without consulting the EU. The Nitrofen scandal is a blow for Germany's agriculture sector, coming just two years after the country experienced its first BSE crisis.
Ms Künast, a member of the Green Party, took office promising to boost organic food production in Germany to 20 per cent of total food production by 2010.
In the two years since BSE hit Germany, the market for organic food has spiralled, growing by 20 to 30 per cent annually.
The organic food industry now has a 3.7 per cent market share and an annual turnover of €5 billion.
