BRUSSELS, Belgium--One year after the dioxin crisis forced the wholesale destruction of meat and dairy products, the government shutdown 200 farms Saturday, hoping to prevent the distribution of cancer-causing pollution in the food chain.

Farm Minister Jaak Gabriels said 205 farms were under investigation for taking fodder from a company where animal feed contaminated with cancer-causing PCB was discovered. The pollution was 925 times above the legal limit. "This is very serious and we are doing our utmost to contain the pollution," said Gabriels. So far, there were no indications contaminated meat had reached consumers. "The good thing is we were quick to react," reducing chances it had spread far," said Gabriels.

Earlier this month, routine tests showed PCB in the fodder company Bauduin-Cambier, in Feluy, 25 miles south of Brussels. PCB pollution has similar effects on human health as dioxin. The dioxin scandal hit Belgium in May 1999, when the government announced that high levels of the cancer-causing chemical had been discovered in eggs, meat and dairy products.

The fear led to a wide range of products being pulled from the shelves, causing the biggest food safety scandal in Europe since the 1996 Mad Cow crisis in Britain. Belgian food was banned all over the world and exporters have been trying to shore up confidence in Belgian exports ever since. Belgium instituted a series of control mechanisms to avoid a repeat of the damaging crisis and Gabriels said the early warning tests had been instrumental in containing the crisis.

The government said it had carried out some 3,000 tests on fodder companies since last year's scandal. Of the affected farms, 147 raise cattle, 48 breed horses and 7 produce pigs. A poultry farm and two pet food producers make up the total. Unlike last year, when Belgium was extremely slow in warning the European Union it was faced with a dioxin crisis, Gabriels said his services had already approached the EU headquarters with information.