May 20, 2010
Agriprem Holdings fined for contaminated feed
Agriprem Holdings has been fined for distributing wheat pellets containing meat and bone meal twelve years after those substances were banned due to the risk of BSE contamination.
The company was given a GBP20,000 (US$28,600) fine and ordered to pay the prosecution costs after the contaminated feed spread to farms and mills across the country in early 2008.
The wheat feed, produced in Sweden, arrived into London's Tilbury Docks in March 2008 but the authorities were quickly alerted after routine samples revealed traces of meat and bone meal.
Even though Animal Health officials said the material posed very low risk, the contamination broke animal by-products legislation which was put in place to keep diseases such as BSE at bay.
There followed a huge tracing operation that involved serving 34 movement restrictions which affected 8230 animals, both cattle and sheep.