The Straits Times Jan 8, 2011 Germany halts pork, egg sales in dioxin scare BERLIN - GERMANY froze sales of poultry, pork and eggs from more than 4,700 farms to stem the spread of food contaminated with cancer-causing dioxin, as fears grew that farmers could have been using tainted livestock feed for months. South Korea and Slovakia on Friday banned the sale of some animal products imported from Germany, while authorities in Britain and the Netherlands were investigating whether food containing German eggs - like mayonnaise or liquid egg products - was safe to eat. Prosecutors in the northern state of Schleswig-Holstein launched an investigation on Friday into the German firm Harles & Jentzsch GmbH, suspecting the company knew but failed to tell authorities that fat it had produced for use in feed pellets was tainted with dioxin. The state agriculture ministry said on Friday it had information that the company had been producing tainted fat for months - a declaration that shocked federal officials. 'If it is confirmed that the company knew since March that its fat was tainted but it did not inform authorities than that is highly criminal activity,' Agriculture Minister Ilse Aigner told n-tv television. Test results published on Friday by the Schleswig-Holstein agriculture ministry showed that some of the fat contained more than 77 times the approved amount of dioxin. Out of 30 samples tested so far, 18 contained more dioxin than legally allowed, it said. Dioxins are contaminants that often result from industrial combustion and other chemical processes. Exposure to dioxins at high levels is linked to an increased incidence of cancer. Dioxin levels tend to be highest in eggs because of the high fat content in eggs. -- AP