Q&A: Fipronil egg scare - Belgium suspected origin of EU’s latest food scare
Belgium convened an emergency session of ministers yesterday to tackle an egg contamination crisis that has spread to at least seven countries, .
A poison called fipronil, contained in an illegal mite-killing insecticide for chickens, has contaminated eggs.
Use of Fipronil on food-producing animals is banned in the EU.
The World Health Organisation says fipronil is “moderately toxic” but in high concentrations, it could have dangerous effects on kidney, liver and thyroid gland function. It could be especially harmful to children.
According to the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment in Germany, Belgian eggs have had fipronil levels between 0.0031 and 1.2 mg/kg.
The fipronil level considered safe for human consumption is 0.72 mg/kg.
Belgian authorities initially said there is no health risk, but subsequently admitted there were harmful level of fipronil in eggs.
Across the border in the Netherlands, authorities declared eggs from 59 farms to be unfit for consumption by children.
They barred a total of 180 poultry farms from sending their eggs to market because they might be contaminated.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said traces of fipronil have been found in eggs in other EU countries, however there is no indication of distribution of the implicated products to the Republic of Ireland.
The European Commission said Monday that seven countries may be affected.
Germany, which receives Dutch egg shipments, launched its own investigation in July.
The Netherlands has warned Sweden and Switzerland that Dutch eggs may be contaminated.
Contaminated eggs were also sold in Luxembourg.
Germany distributed eggs to France and the UK.
The Food Standards Agency in the UK says about 21,000 contaminated eggs were distributed to the UK.
Supermarkets and distributors in the Netherlands and Germany withdrew millions of eggs from their shelves last week.
The Dutch food and product safety board advised buyers of suspect eggs (consumers were given the egg code number) to throw them away.
More than 350,000 hens have been killed as a precaution in the Netherlands.
Chicken meat is also being tested.
A Dutch business which sold insecticide to poultry farmers says it got the product from a Belgian supplier.
The Dutch food and product safety board revealed the problem in late July, warning that contaminated eggs pose a severe threat to consumers.
However, it took the Belgian authorities more than one month to raise an alert over potentially toxic eggs, with the Belgian food agency admitting it knew about the problem in early June.
There was testing for contaminated eggs in Belgium in mid-May.
A European Commission spokeswoman said the food scare is being very closely monitored.
She said all eggs are traceable and trackable, farms are identified, the eggs are blocked, the contaminated eggs are traced and withdrawn from the market, and the situation is under control.
