A bulletin for the Australian Food Industry June 1997
Contents: Food poisoning and the regulatory response | Cutting boards - is plastic better than wood? | Hygiene monitoring by ATP luminometry | AQIS Director defends food inspection system | Cheese from unpasteurised milk banned | Oysters and Hepatitis A | Farmers seek compensation over chemical residue in meat | Australian Smallgoods Food Safety Guidelines
Farmers seek compensation over chemical residue in meat
Four hundred and eighty cattle producers from northern New South Wales and western Queensland have launched a class action to seek millions of dollars compensation in the Federal Court from chemical company ICI and the NSW and Queensland governments. The case involves contamination of cattle and meat by the chemical chlorafluazuron (CFZ) which was widely used in aerial spraying to control insects in cotton crops between 1989 and 1994.
The cattle owners fed their animals with cotton trash and cotton seed remnants during the prolonged drought early in this decade. The detection of CFZ residues in meat being processed at a plant in northern NSW in October 1994 resulted in the immediate quarantine of about 3,000 beef farms and the rejection of beef exports by Japan and the United States. Some properties where CFZ contaminated feed was never used could still have been affected by spray drift following the aerial application of CFZ it was claimed in the Federal Court.
Legal Counsel for the cattle producers said that CFZ was not registered for use in any other country at the time. Hence the finding of any CFZ residue in exported meat would lead to rejection. The plaintiffs are alleging common law negligence by ICI in failing to carry out appropriate testing to establish an appropriate withholding period and to provide adequate warning of risks associated with use of the chemical. The plaintiffs further allege negligence on the part of the NSW Department of Agriculture and the Queensland Department of Primary Industries in allowing the use of CFZ. Counsel claimed that both State Departments were at the time represented on the Technical Committee for
Agricultural Chemicals (TCAC) and on the body that replaced it, the Australian Agricultural and Veterinary Chemicals Committee. The TCAC had cleared CFZ for aerial application to cotton at the same time the State Departments were recommending the use of cotton trash for feed.
The case is continuing.
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