17 Oct - Dutch dairy co-operative Campina has been fined EUR 110,000 by a Belgian court after milk it produced for use in animal feed over a five-year period was found to contain antibiotics.
The milk containing antibiotics was recovered from the property of a Belgian company that was processing it for Campina without holding a permit to do so. Five members of the company were each reported to have been fined EUR 11,000 for the breach by the court in Ghent earlier this month.
The judge in the case found the company’s procedures for dealing with produce did not conform to waste management legislation of the period 1999-2004.
However, Campina stressed that it had always acted in good faith and that the situation had never posed a public health threat. The company said the court also acknowledged this.
However, the court ruled Campina had committed an infringement. Campina said in a statement that the court had also said Dutch authorities shared some of the fault relating to the breach in regulations.
Campina said it is considering whether to appeal against the decision.