New food scare hits Europe

HAMBURG, Germany -- A new food safety scare is spreading across Europe after it was discovered that an antibiotic which can stop blood cell production may have entered the food chain.

The antibiotic is believed to have been used in shrimps imported into the Netherlands from the Far East.

The shrimps were then added to fish meal in Germany before being sent to five European countries and fed to livestock.

It is feared infected meat may have reached supermarket shelves. About a dozen firms are involved in the investigations.

The fears follow concern over mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), which is believed to be linked to the human form of the disease variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD).

It is believed there is a link between eating beef from cattle suffering from mad cow disease and vCJD, which has so far killed more than 100 people, mainly in the UK.

"We do not have a precise number of the parties which received this feed," said a spokesman for the farm ministry in Germany's Lower Saxony.

"But it is larger than previously thought and we are energetically investigating in cooperation with other state governments."

Six firms in Germany and one each in Denmark, Poland and Romania were initially identified as having received the feed. Two Austrian firms were subsequently named.

The imported shrimps contain chloramphenicol which can cause a potentially lethal form of anaemia in humans by preventing the formation of blood cells.

Chloramphenicol's use is normally restricted to combating life-threatening diseases such as anthrax and typhoid because of its dangers.

Thailand, a leading exporter of frozen shrimp, said it would tighten up a law banning the use of chloramphenicol by shrimp farms and restrict imports of the powerful antibiotic.

The European Commission will take up the matter next week at a meeting of the Standing Veterinary Committee, but Lower Saxony said initial tests showed the antibiotic was not present in the feed itself though more tests will be conducted. But there were worries the feed had reached livestock.

"Anyone who thinks this has not been fed is optimistic. I believe that a certain amount of this has been fed," the Lower Saxony agriculture ministry official said.

In Romania, an agriculture ministry spokeswoman said the amounts imported were likely to have been small but stressed that the suspect feed could have been already sold and consumed.