The European Commission is looking to provide reassurance following the discovery of insecticide residue in eggs in Belgium and the Netherlands. “The farms have been identified and the eggs held back. The contaminated eggs have also been identified and withdrawn from the market. In short, the situation is under control”, according to the Commission press service on Thursday 3 August.
The Belgian Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) was informed at the start of June that a consignment of eggs in Belgium could possibly have been contaminated by Fipronil. This insecticide, first marketed in 1993, is used to treat poultry against lice. It can be used legally to treat domestic animals, such as cats and dogs, but must not be used on animals that enter the food chain. In high, repeated doses, it can have a harmful effect on the thyroid, liver and kidneys. According to the information currently available, the possible sources are a poultry service company operating in Belgium and another in the Netherlands. Eggs from Dutch poultry farms are also believed to have been marketed in Germany and Denmark.
FASFC triggered the rapid alert system for food and feed (RASFF) on 20 July to inform neighbouring countries of the possible presence of this product in eggs. It also initiated checks, the preliminary results of which – communicated by the Belga press agency – would seem to confirm that the contamination is below European safety levels (Regulation 1127/2014). “Initial results of the analyses carried out on eggs potentially tainted by an insecticide are reassuring for public health. However, these results highlight the presence of Fipronil in some batches of eggs, though not representing a threat to consumers”, FASFC is quoted by Belga as saying.
Since 26 July 2017, the Dutch food and product safety board (NVWA – Nederlandse Voedsel-en Warenautoriteit) has stopped some 200 farms in the Netherlands from selling their eggs because the hens on these farms had been treated with Fipronil. (Original version in French by Sophie Petitjean)