Optimizing bulk milk dioxin monitoring based on costs and effectiveness.

Dioxins are environmental pollutants, potentially present in milk products, which have negative consequences for human health and for the firms and farms involved in the dairy chain. Dioxin monitoring in feed and food has been implemented to detect their presence and estimate their levels in food chains. However, the costs and effectiveness of such programs have not been evaluated.

Financial impact of a dioxin incident in the Dutch dairy chain.

The aim of this study was to quantify the financial consequences of a milk-dioxin crisis on the stages of the dairy chain involved. The milk dioxin contamination impact model was designed for this purpose and also was used to estimate the net costs of control measures limiting the impact. Results obtained based on the assumption of the worst-case scenario in which the entire daily production of each business unit from feed supplier to milk processor is contaminated suggested that the financial impact of one dioxin incident would be €141.