Slowly but surely the demand for organic veg is on the increase. Every time there’s another animal food scare in the news another group of enlightened people decide that enough is enough and resolve to change the quality of their family’s food intake for good.

The latest one is Irish pork. News just breaking is that all of the republic’s pork products have been recalled:

All Irish Pork Products Recalled

All pork products made and sold in the Irish Republic since September have been recalled over fears they are contaminated with toxins.

BBC News 6 December 2008

The FSAE seem to have acted fairly quickly to take the necessary action:

Laboratory results of animal feed and pork fat samples obtained this afternoon (6 December) have confirmed the presence of dioxins. The food industry is therefore required to recall from the market all Irish pork products produced from pigs slaughtered in Ireland.

Food Safety Authority of Ireland

But behind the headlines there’s also this worrying concern about Irish Beef too:

In a news conference, led by the Minister for Agriculture Brendan Smith and the Minister for Health Mary Harney, it was also announced that 38 beef farms are also being investigated and movement from all affected farms is now restricted.

The recall has been backdated to September 1st.

Belfast Telegraph

It’s a disaster for the pig industry in Ireland as well as for the health of people in Ireland, the UK and anywhere else that has been importing Irish pork products. Between April and July this year, the UK imported 230,000 tonnes of pork and bacon from markets including the Irish Republic but it is unknown exactly how much of that was at risk of having been contaminated with the toxic PCB substances. Organic pigs will have been fed on organic pig food rather than industrial waste so the risk there is minimal, but the movement marches onwards towards including more organic veg as part of either a vegetarian, vegan or omnivorous lifestyle choice.