More oil taken off shelves
Authorities said yesterday they would withdraw all the sunflower oil that has entered the Greek market regardless of country of origin and date of import, to ensure all contaminated batches are seized, as the European Union said it would ban all imports of Ukrainian sunflower oil. Development Minister Christos Folias stressed that there was no public health risk to consumers who may have consumed tainted oil since early January, noting that the oil is «irregular not dangerous.» The new head of the Hellenic Food Authority (EFET), Antonis Zambelas, remarked that the average person would have to consume 4 kilos of tainted sunflower oil every day for their health to be in danger. The alarm was sounded in Greece after two shipments of sunflower oil from Ukraine were found to have been tainted by mineral oil, a by-product of petroleum. The EU’s decision to impose a ban on Ukrainian sunflower oil – due to apply from today – came after Kiev failed to guarantee the safety of its shipments.
