Egg scandal in Holland and EU

Dog anti-flea poison (fipronil) found in eggs

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robert99 Sweden • Posts: 1360

1 5 Aug 2017

https://www.yahoo.com/news/millions-dutch-eggs-destroyed-growing-insecticide-scandal-184508966.html

The Hague (AFP) - Supermarkets in the Netherlands and Germany were Thursday removing millions of eggs from their shelves believed to have been contaminated by a toxic insecticide in a widening food scandal.

Amid fears the Dutch poultry industry could be facing huge financial losses, German officials said late Thursday they believed three million tainted eggs had been made their way into the country and been sold.

After shuttering 180 businesses earlier in the week, the Dutch food authority (NVWA) said following tests that 138 poultry farms -- about a fifth of all such concerns in the country -- would remain closed, with one batch of eggs posing "an acute danger to public health".

Eggs from another 59 farms contained high enough levels of the insecticide, fipronil, that the food authority warned they should not be eaten by children.

"Those businesses whose egg codes have been printed on the website will remain closed," the NVWA said, publishing a list of 138 codes printed on the sides of the eggs, which identify which farm they have come from.

According to Dutch media, some 10 billion eggs were produced in the country last year by about 1,000 poultry farms, with many of them going across the border into Germany.

- Scramble in Germany -

The German agricultural ministry said "at least three million contaminated eggs" had been delivered from the Netherlands to Germany in recent weeks, most of which had been sold.

"Germany has been worse affected" than initially thought, admitted German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt after holding a "crisis teleconference" Thursday with his counterparts in German states.

Manufactured by Germany's BASF among other companies, fipronil is commonly used in veterinary products to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks.

But it is banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption, such as chickens.

The European Commission said it had been made aware of the egg issue, and spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen told reporters developments were being monitored "very closely".

"What I can say is that the farms are identified, the eggs are blocked, the contaminated eggs are traced and withdrawn from the market, and the situation is under control."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fipronil
Because of its effectiveness on a large number of pests, Fipronil is used as the active ingredient in flea control products for pets and home roach traps as well as field pest control for corn, golf courses, and commercial turf. Its widespread use makes its specific effects the subject of considerable attention. This includes ongoing observations on possible off-target harm to humans or ecosystems as well as the monitoring of resistance development.

Fipronil is one of the main chemical causes blamed for the spread of colony collapse disorder among bees. It has been found by the Minutes-Association for Technical Coordination Fund in France that even at very low nonlethal doses for bees, the pesticide still impairs their ability to locate their hive, resulting in large numbers of forager bees lost with every pollen-finding expedition. A 2013 report by the European Food Safety Authority identified fipronil as "a high acute risk to honeybees when used as a seed treatment for maize and on July 16, 2013 the EU voted to ban the use of fipronil on corn and sunflowers within the EU. The ban took effect at the end of 2013."

robert99 Sweden • Posts: 1360

2 5 Aug 2017

https://www.yahoo.com/news/tainted-dutch-eggs-scandal-widens-across-borders-165617548.html

Tainted Dutch eggs scandal widens across borders

Supermarkets in the Netherlands and Germany moved to halt some egg sales Thursday as hundreds of thousands may have been contaminated by a toxic insecticide in a widening food scandal.

Amid fears the Dutch poultry industry could be facing millions of euros in losses, the country's biggest supermarket chain Albert Heijn said it was pulling 14 types of eggs from its shelves.

"All the eggs of these 14 kinds have been sent back to the depot and destroyed," company spokeswoman Els van Dijk told AFP.

It was "an unprecedented" situation for Albert Heijn, she added, saying instructions of the Dutch food authority (NVWA) were being followed.

Damage to Dutch poultry farms is already believed to have run into millions of euros, said Hennie de Haan, president of the National Poultry Owners union.

The NVWA was due to publish its findings later Thursday having closed 180 poultry farms across The Netherlands this week after traces of the insecticide, fipronil, was first found in samples taken from eggs, droppings and meat in late July.

Manufactured by Germany's BASF among other companies, fipronil is commonly used in veterinary products to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks.

It is believed the substance was introduced to poultry farms by a Dutch business, named Chickfriend, which was called in to treat red lice, a nasty parasite in chickens.

German Agriculture Minister Christian Schmidt called a "crisis teleconference" Thursday with his counterparts in German states where fipronil was also detected in eggs.

About one million eggs being transported to Germany were also recalled from the border on Tuesday with The Netherlands, the Dutch food authority NVWA added.

Belgium's federal food chain security agency (AFSCA) said it too has launched an investigation in cooperation with prosecutors.

Tests have found fipronil in some eggs but not in quantities that pose a threat to human health. None of the eggs have made it to Belgian supermarket shelves, the Belgian authority said.

In large quantities, the substance is considered to be "moderately hazardous" according to the World Health Organisation, and can have dangerous effects on people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands.

robert99 Sweden • Posts: 1360

3 7 Aug 2017

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-40841411

Belgium has admitted it knew in June that eggs from Dutch farms might be contaminated with an insecticide - a month before the issue became public.

The information was not shared because of a fraud investigation, a spokeswoman for Belgium's food safety agency said.

Tests found the chemical fipronil, which can harm people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands, in Dutch eggs.

Supermarkets in Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have removed potentially contaminated eggs.

"We have known since early June there was potentially a problem with fipronil in the poultry sector," spokeswoman Katrien Stragier told reporters.

"We immediately launched an investigation and we also informed the prosecutor because it was a matter of possible fraud," she added, without giving more details.

robert99 Sweden • Posts: 1360

4 8 Aug 2017

http://www.dw.com/en/tainted-fipronil-eggs-spread-to-france-uk/a-40001419

Tainted fipronil eggs spread to France, UK

France has warned that batches of fipronil-contaminated eggs have been found at two French food-processing factories. The UK's food regulator has said it is "urgently investigating the distribution of these eggs."

Europe's contaminated eggs scandal on Monday spread into France and across the Channel to the UK.

While the number of affected eggs is believed to be few, France and the UK could begin pulling eggs from store shelves as precautionary measure, something already seen across supermarkets in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium, as well as Sweden and Switzerland.

The European Commission on Monday said its EU rapid alert system had determined that eggs suspected of contamination had also been distributed to France and Britain via Germany, and that it had alerted the countries' food authorities.

Commission spokeswoman Anna-Kaisa Itkonen said that it was up the countries in question now to check all eggs believed to be contaminated, as "all these eggs are traceable and trackable."

robert99 Sweden • Posts: 1360

5 6 Sep 2017

https://nltimes.nl/2017/09/05/fipronil-contaminated-eggs-found-45-countries

Fipronil contaminated eggs found in 45 countries

The fipronil contaminated egg scandal is spreading to more and more countries. Since it was discovered that the toxic pesticide was used illegally in the Netherlands and Belgium a few months ago, 45 countries found fipronil in their eggs and egg products, the Telegraaf reports.

Of the 28 EU member states, 26 reported finding fipronil in their eggs and egg products, European Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis of Health and Food Safety said on Tuesday. Only Lithuania and Croatia haven't reported finding the pesticide.

The pesticide was also found in products in other countries like the United States, Russia, South Africa, the Dutch Antilles, Turkey, Iraq, Norway, Israel and Canada.