After the discovery of dioxin in Irish pork which is reported to have been sold in 25 countries, including China, China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine has issued an emergency circular to each of its subsidiaries, asking them to suspend the import of pork products from Ireland.
In addition, AQSIQ has said that Irish pork products produced after September 1, 2008 either be recalled or returned to Ireland. Since September 1, a total of 2074 tons of pork products were imported to China from Ireland.
Investigators in Ireland say that the pork was contaminated because the feedstuff for the pigs was produced with recycled materials. It is said that a total of ten Irish farms and nine farms in Northern Ireland have used this contaminated feedstuff.
Dioxin is a colorless and flavorless liposoluble substance extreme toxicity and a known carcinogen. In 1997, dioxin was listed by International Agency for Research on Cancer as a Class One cancer-causing substance.
