Editing Polychlorinated biphenyl (section)

===Republic of Ireland===
{{Main|2008 Irish pork crisis}}
In December 2008, a number of Irish news sources reported testing had revealed "extremely high" levels of dioxins, by [[toxic equivalent]], in pork products, ranging from 80 to 200 times the [[European Union|EU's]] upper safe limit of 1.5&nbsp;pg WHO-TEQ<sub>DFP</sub>/μg i.e. 0.12 to 0.3 parts per billion.<ref name="BBC PCB-1">{{cite news|title=Food body to meet on pork recall|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/7769871.stm|access-date=27 October 2014|work=BBC|publisher=BBC|date=7 December 2008}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Commission Regulation (EC) No 1881/2006. Setting maximum levels for certain contaminants in foodstuffs |url=http://eurlex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:364:0005:0024:EN:PDF|website=Official Journal of the European Union |publisher=European Union |location=Brussels |date=9 December 2006}}</ref>

[[Brendan Smith (politician)|Brendan Smith]], the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, stated the pork contamination was caused by PCB-contaminated feed that was used on 9 of Ireland's 400 pig farms, and only one feed supplier was involved.<ref name="BBC PCB-1"/><ref>{{cite news|title=Firm at centre of toxin scare investigated|url=http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1207/111373-pork/|access-date=27 October 2014|publisher=RTE news|date=9 December 2008}}</ref> Smith added that 38 beef farms also used the same contaminated feed, but those farms were quickly isolated and no contaminated beef entered the food chain.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Q&A: The recall of Irish pork |work= BBC |access-date= 2008-12-08 |date= 2008-12-07 |url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/7769893.stm}}</ref> While the contamination was limited to just 9 pig farms, the Irish government requested the immediate withdrawal and disposal of all pork-containing products produced in Ireland and purchased since September 1, 2008. This request for withdrawal of pork products was confirmed in a press release by the [[Food Safety Authority of Ireland]] on December 6.<!-- Not original press release cited, but that link was dead and this covers the topic in question --><ref>{{cite press release |title= Recall of Pork and Bacon Products December 2008 |publisher= Food Safety Authority of Ireland |date= December 2008 |url= http://www.fsai.ie/food_businesses/topics_of_interest/recall_of_pork_dec08/recall_information.html |access-date= 27 May 2013 |url-status= dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130817023437/http://www.fsai.ie/food_businesses/topics_of_interest/recall_of_pork_dec08/recall_information.html |archive-date= 17 August 2013}}</ref>

It is thought that the incident resulted from the contamination of fuel oil used in a drying burner at a single feed processor, with PCBs. The resulting combustion produced a highly toxic mixture of PCBs, dioxins and [[furan]]s, which was included in the feed produced and subsequently fed to a large number of pigs.<ref>{{cite web |title= Report of the Inter-Agency Review Group on the Dioxin Contamination Incident in Ireland in December 2008 |publisher= Department of Agriculture, Food & the Marine |date= Dec 2009 |url= http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/publications/2010/DioxinReport211209revised190110.pdf |access-date= 2010-09-02 |archive-date= 2010-12-09 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20101209121430/http://www.agriculture.gov.ie/media/migration/publications/2010/DioxinReport211209revised190110.pdf |url-status= dead }}</ref>