No tainted eggs on the market in Belgium, food agency says

Eggs being sold on the local market are not tainted by the insecticide Fipronil, the Federal Food Safety Agency (Afsca) has confirmed. Earlier in the week, Dutch authorities issued a warning to the public after tainted eggs were discovered at a production facility.

Fipronil is an insecticide used against fleas and mites but is banned for use in the poultry industry because of the risk of contamination. Last month, Afsca inspectors discovered a number of tainted eggs, which led them to Poultry Vision, a poultry industry consultant in Antwerp province.

Poultry Vision had allegedly sold a legal insecticide mixed with Fipronil. That contamination has allegedly been traced back to a Dutch company.

Afsca signalled the presence of Fipronil to neighbouring countries via the European Alert System, and steps were taken to remove all traces of the tainted eggs from the market. Belgian producers suspected of using the insecticide were closed and tainted eggs destroyed.

Industry representative Danny Coulier said that his organisation, Flemish Poultry Farmers, were not informed how many companies that was, but they assume that the figure is “fewer than 100”. It means, he said, “that the inspectors of the food agency close your company and allow no more sales of animals, eggs or manure.”

“With the data we have at present, we can say that, for the time being, there is no risk to health from the consumption of eggs,” an Afsca spokesperson said. “The first results from our analysis of the eggs containing Fipronil are reassuring. The European limits have not been exceeded.”

Photo: Ingimage