Scientific studies have linked them to birth defects and brain damage.

Dioxins remain in the atmosphere for a long time and once absorbed by animals become trapped in their fatty tissues.

EU health boss David Byrne said that from Monday food or feed products exceeding set permissible limits would be removed from the food chain as part of an EU strategy to improve the safety and quality of feed and food after recent food scares.

"Very few countries in the world have any binding limits for the presence of dioxin in place," Byrne said in a statement.

"Thus the EU is paving the way forward to improved public health protection," he said.

The maxmimum dioxin levels for meat from ruminant animals such as cows and sheep has been put at two pg (picogrammes per gramme of fat) while dioxins in pig and poultry meat are fixed at one pg.

In 1999 dioxins were discovered in Belgian food which were thought to have entered through animal feed.

Belgium saw its meat and dairy exports banned by many countries around the world as a result.