Contaminated foods probably already eaten says agency

Fourteen tonnes of liquid egg contaminated with dioxins was used in cakes and quiches sold in the UK's major supermarkets but the Food Standards Agency said stores would already have sold most of the affected products, as they had short shelf lives and they had probably been eaten.

The FSA said it did not have a "definitive list" of the supermarkets selling the products, but Tesco and Morrisons were two of them. It added: "There is no food safety risk from eating these products. The majority of products will have been sold and most have passed their 'use by' or 'best before' dates.

Supermarkets are removing the small amount of products that are still in date."

Retailers, including Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's and Morrisons, have cleared any remaining cakes that could be affected from shelves.

The alert came after it was discovered that some eggs and meat in Germany had five times the legal level of dioxins, chemicals shown to contribute to higher cancer rates and affect pregnant women.

It then emerged that some of the contaminated eggs had been sold to the Netherlands, mixed into pasteurised liquidised egg and sold on to the UK through two buyers, Kensey Foods, Cornwall, a division of Samworth Brothers, and Memory Lane Cakes Ltd, Cardiff, a division of Finsbury Food Group. Both supply supermarkets under a variety of brand names.

The source is believed to be oils and fats left over from biofuel manufacture.

Products removed from stores:

Tesco

Tesco Caterpillar Cake - Best Before 10/01/11

Tesco Coconut Sponge 5.5" - Best Before 15/01/11

Tesco Raspberry Sponge 5.5"- Best Before 07/01/11

Tesco Value Raspberry Sponge 5.5" - Best Before 13/01/11, 15/01/11

Tesco Vanilla Party Tray Bake - Best Before 11/01/11

Tesco Christmas Chocolate Tray Bake - Best Before 07/01/11

Tesco Chocolate Sponge Cake - Best Before 10/01/11, 15/01/11

Tesco Victoria Sponge Cake - Best Before 12/01/11, 13/01/11, 15/01/11

Morrisons

Morrisons Caterpillar Cake - Best Before 18/01/11

Morrisons Chocolate Tray Bake - Best Before 10/01/11

Morrisons Mini Roll Bites (Cakeshop) - Best Before 10/01, 17/01, 20/01/11

Morrisons Victoria Sponge Sandwich Cake - Best Before 13/01/11, 15/01/11, 18/01/11, 19/01/11, 25/01/11

Morrisons Vanilla Tray Bake - Best Before 11/01/11; 26/01/11

Morrisons Value Raspberry Sponge - Best Before 12/01/11, 17/01/11, 20/01/11

Asda

Asda Vanilla Traybake - Best Before 7 Jan, 8 Jan

Asda Mini Victoria Cake - Best Before 7 Jan, 11 Jan

Asda Choc Traybake - Best Before 8 Jan, 10 Jan

Asda Lemon Sponge - Best Before 9 Jan, 16 Jan

Asda Caterpillar Cake - Best Before 10 Jan, 11 Jan

Asda Lemon Loaf Cake - Best Before 11 Jan

Asda Raspberry Sponge - Best Before 11 Jan, 12 Jan

Asda Smart Price Sponge - Best Before 13 Jan, 15 Jan

Asda Coconut Sponge - Best Before 14 Jan, 20 Jan

Sainsbury's

Sainsbury's Caterpillar cake - Best Before 10 Jan and 11 Jan.