Health minister Bernat Soria did his best to reassure the public yesterday over the contaminated sunflower oil scare, indicating that the warning is "close" to being lifted, and guaranteeing that the situation is "perfectly under control."

Speaking at a press conference in Sevilla, Mr Soria reassured the public that they can confidently buy any brand of sunflower oil on sale in Spanish retail establishments as none contains any of the suspect batch from Ukraine in which low levels of hydrocarbons have been detected.

However, the minister was reluctant to reveal which brands had been affected, but promised to do so within the next few days.

Elsewhere, 5,700 tonnes of the batch have been seized in Holland while it has also emerged that the French Saipol company imported 2,600 tonnes, 125 tonnes of which were then exported to Spain.

Consumers warned not to use sunflower oil
By: thinkSPAIN
Saturday, April 26, 2008

The Spanish Health ministry is advising consumers not to use or buy sunflower oil after learning of a rogue batch from Ukraine contaminated with hydrocarbons.

Although the public has been reassured that there is no immediate health risk, the blanket warning will remain in force until it has been confirmed which brands have been affected.

In a statement issued yesterday, the ministry informed that the contaminated product started arriving in Spain last February, and advised consumers not to continue using sunflower oil they may have at home until the start of next week when the ministry hopes to identify exactly which products are at risk.

It is believed that the contaminated batch has been distributed to most EU countries.