Diners enjoy a meal at the De Kuiper horsemeat restaurant in Belgium which is enjoying roaring business.

Dioxin scare? Belgians move on to horse, eel, even buffalo
Associated Press, June 12, 1999 -- Belgians will not be kept from a decent meal, dangerous food contamination or not. Roast chicken and mayonnaise might have been laced with dioxin, but there are always recipes for unlikely alternatives: horse, eel, buffalo. More.

Dairy product traders agree to yank ads
Star, June 13, 1999 -- Dairy product manufacturers and importers have agreed to withdraw advertisements assuring consumers that their products are not tainted with dioxin. More.

Tests of Belgian eggs reveal high PCB levels-Bonn
Reuters, June 12 , Bonn -- Germany's federal health ministry said on Saturday that tests carried out on Belgian eggs had revealed levels of the toxic chemical PCB exceeding national safety limits by up to 65 times. More.

Dioxin Contamination Fears Cross To Netherlands
Reuters, June 12, 1999, Amsterdam -- Food contamination fears gripped the Netherlands after the agriculture ministry said Dutch livestock may have eaten feed containing the highly toxic dioxin. "Our livestock also ate suspect feed too,'' blared the front page of the top-selling daily De Telegraaf Saturday. More.

Cover of the weekly magazine HUMO showing a photo illustration of Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene with a roosters comb and pigs ears.In Dutch, Dehaene translates as "rooster."

Government's fate uncertain in elections amid food scandal
Associated Press, June 11, 1999 -- Until two weeks ago, few questioned Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene's future - but the outbreak of a dioxin food contamination scandal has shaken Belgium's political landscape ahead of national elections Sunday. More.

Asian countries over-reacting to dioxin scare: European officials
AFP, June 10, 1999, Bangkok -- European officials accused Asian countries of "over-reacting" to Belgium's dioxin contamination scare. Singling out Malaysia, Michel Caillouet said: "Why ban all EU products in Malaysia? This is something I do not understand." More.

Belgian Prime Minister's wife calls dioxin crisis "a plot"
Brussels, June 10 (Reuters) - The wife of Belgian Prime Minister Jean-Luc Dehaene said the country's crisis over dioxin contamination was a plot against the government, adding she was not changing her eating habits: "We are continuing to eat everything." More.

A Belgian firefighter discarded frozen meat -- possibly tainted by dioxin -- before the government said suspect food could return to store shelves

Belgium says world is overreacting, returns food to shelves
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP), June 9, 1999 -- After 12 days of scrambling to find a decent meal, Belgians may soon find their store shelves restocked. As of Wednesday, poultry farmers were free to slaughter chickens, and the government was expected to lift similar bans on the slaughter of pigs and cattle later today. More.

Cert now needed for EU goods to be sold in Malaysia
The Star, June 10, 1999, Kuala Lumpur -- Health Minister Datuk Chua Jui Meng said that importers, manufacturers or distributors would have to get the certificate from the countries of origin to prove that they were dioxin-free. More.

Nestle (M) To Withdraw European Products
Utusan, June 9, 1999 -- Nestle Malaysia said today it will temporarily withdraw Pre-Nan, Nan 1, Nan 2, Nan 2 with Bifidus, Nan HA, Neslac with Bifidus, Klim Superkid, Nespray Junior/Growing-Up Milk, Nespray Hi-Calcium Non Fat Milk Powder and Milkmaid condensed milk (525g). More.

Belgium says world overreacted
AP, June 8, 1999 -- French Health Minister Bernard Kouchner says:''There is still uncertainty on the origins of the dioxin. ... The information is extremely imprecise.'' More.

Has the world gone crazy?
The New Paper, June 8, 1999, Singapore -- I AM stressed. My mother called me in a panic yesterday afternoon and said that the milk formula I had been feeding my 14-month-old daughter has been taken off the shelves. It is because of the new food scare that is gripping Europe, and Singapore isn't taking any chances. But as I write this, my baby is crying... More.