WHO raises swine flu alert level -- EU Commission

BRUSSELS, April 29 (Reuters) - The World Health Organization raised the pandemic threat level from swine flu one level to phase 5, a European Commission official said on Wednesday.

"I have the disappointing news that the WHO has now raised the pandemic level up one notch," Robert Madelin, Director-General for Health and Consumer Policy at the European Commission, told a food industry meeting in Brussels.

The level had been at phase 4. Phase 5 is the WHO's second highest level of warning that a pandemic, or global outbreak of a serious new illness, is imminent. (Reporting by Darren Ennis; Editing by Charles Dick)