Alert on dichlorvos in Argentine sorghum
Dutch authorities have confirmed that a shipment of sorghum from Argentina destined for use as animal feed was contaminated with the pesticide dichlorvos, an EU-wide alert showed.
It is possible the tainted animal feed has already been distributed to the market in both the Netherlands and Germany, the European Union’s rapid alert system for food and feed showed.
According to sources the tainted sorghum had been delivered to a feed factory in Germany, where the insecticide had been detected during an in-house check.
The said manufacturer had made a formal complaint to the provider for not complying with product quality.
The merchant has traced this batch to a sorghum ship, which contained 30,000 tonnes, of Argentine origin which had been unloaded in Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Banned insecticide
The RASFF alert said 0.623 parts per million (ppm) of dichlorvos had been found in the sorghum.
A European Commission spokesperson said the insecticide was not authorised in the EU, so a maximum residue level of 0.01 ppm was applicable by default.
Cheaper than wheat
Several countries in Europe have recently been importing the feed grain sorghum to provide a cheaper alternative to wheat, which is trading on world markets at its highest levels since August 2008.
Farmers across the 27-country EU bloc say many are deeply in the red after a surge in feed costs, largely driven by bad weather and worries of food inflation. They fear herds will shrink and many farms will fall into disuse in the coming months.
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