INDUSTRY SEES NO HARM FROM DIOXIN REPORT

CAROL EMERT

WASHINGTON (FNS) -- Food industry representatives say they do not expect the market for meat, fish and dairy products to suffer from a government report linking dioxins to cancer in human beings.

The Environmental Protection Agency, which released the document Sept. 13, is not recommending that consumers change their diets. Instead, the agency is focusing on trying to stem dioxin at the source, such as by controlling factory emissions.

Rob Byrne, assistant director for product safety and technology with the International Dairy Foods Association, said there was no noticeable impact on the market for meat, fish and dairy products last spring after similar information from a draft of the report was leaked to the media.