EU Says Little Health Risk from Tainted Ukraine Sunoil

Brussels, April 28 - Four EU countries are removing contaminated Ukrainian sunflower oil from shop shelves even though it doesn't pose a serious risk to human health, the European Commission said on Monday.

A 40,000-tonnes cargo of unrefined oil, which arrived in France by sea, was split into seven re-export batches to Italy, Spain and the Netherlands, and within France, officials said.

While the exact nature of the contamination is unclear, it is classified as a "mineral oil" -- possibly some kind of lubricant or diesel oil, Commission food safety officials say -- while shipment dates and consignment volumes are still unclear.

"We don't think it is sufficient to cause acute health problems at this stage," Commission spokesman Michael Mann told a daily news briefing.

"We are still waiting for information from the Ukrainian authorities so that we can be sure," one official told reporters. More data was due from Ukrain later on Monday.

So far, the Commission -- which administers EU policy, including food safety standards, for the bloc's 27 countries -- is treating the case as fraud, until shown otherwise.

"The quantities (of tainted material) found did not come from cross-contamination," the official said. "This does not give rise to a toxicological risk but it is not supposed to be in sunflower oil," he added.

After a more detailed assessment of the risk of the oil contaminant's presence within sunflower oil, Commission food safety experts -- in conjunction with EU national authories -- would decide whether EU-wide action was needed, Mann said.

EU authorities had asked the four countries that received batches of Ukrainian sunflower oil to trace them throughout their food production and distribution chains, he said.

"Everything that is being done by the member states is sufficient as far as we are concerned," Mann said. "But this is a fraud that has been committed."

"The advice we're giving to consumers is that the four member states where this oil may have arrived are taking the necessary action to remove it from the market."