Commissary products not affected by tainted animal feed

By Leslie Brown (DeCA Europe Public Affairs)January 12, 2011

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany -- The Defense Commissary Agency Europe would like to reassure their customers that the meat and eggs in their commissaries are safe.

Concern was raised recently when dioxin was found in some eggs and poultry within Germany after tainted grease was inadvertently used to make animal feed.

DeCA officials would like to let everyone know that the poultry, eggs, pork and beef that are in the coolers and freezers are safe.

"All of the products we sell are not affected by the current egg recall or the ban on meats," said Cheryl Conner, DeCA Europe deputy director. "Our eggs come from Denmark, our pork comes from Bavaria and our fresh chicken comes from France."

DeCA is working closely with the European Regional Veterinary Command's Food Safety Office, The Exchange, formerly the Army Air Force Exchange Service, and the Defense Logistics Agency and has initiated measures to ensure food intended for customers of the Department of Defense are not affected.

All suppliers of food products that could have been affected by the animal feed contamination have conducted investigations and have tested their products.

"All of our vendors have provided information to us stating they have intensified their monitoring programs," said Petra Pulze, acquisition management chief for DeCA Europe. "Our suppliers take this incident very seriously and have increased their testing of all of their products."

To alleviate any fears, commissary store directors have been asked to post signs near all of the products that could raise concerns with customers.

For more information about the dioxin incident in Germany, visit the European Union's official Web site at http://tinyurl.com/65bpyrl

"Whenever a customer has any concern with a product sold in one of our stores they can always talk to our store management staff," Conner said. "Safety of the products we sell is our top concern."