European egg scandal deepens as second prohibited pesticide identified

25 Aug 2017 --- The Dutch fipronil egg scandal deepened once more yesterday (August 24) after the Dutch Minister of Health announced that a second prohibited pesticide was used by pest control company Chickfriend on a number of poultry and mixed farms. In a letter to the Dutch Parliament, Edith Schippers notes that investigators discovered on 10 August that there were an additional seven farms treated by Chickfriend in 2016 and 2017, which had not yet been investigated by the Netherlands Food and Consumer Products Safety Authority (NVWA) with regards to fipronil contamination.

Moreover, Schippers notes, Chickfriend was found to have used a second pesticide, amitraz, in addition to fipronil.

Although amitraz is rapidly excreted after oral ingestion, there are indications for effects on the central nervous system, for genetic, reproduction, developmental toxicity and for carcinogenicity.

“The NVWA has analyzed eggs and hasn’t found amitraz in them. Amitraz was probably used to repel flies on two farms in The Netherlands that have calves. On one of the farms, there were no animals present. On the other farm, the animals have been blocked. They will have to be tested negative before going to the slaughterhouse. The use on calves of one specific veterinary medicine containing amitraz is not prohibited,” Lex Benden, NVWA Spokesperson, tells FoodIngredientsFirst.

“Amitraz is excreted very fast by animals and humans. The NVWA continues its investigation into the use of prohibited substances by one poultry service company,” Benden adds.

What’s been happening so far?
The fipronil eggs scandal has dominated food industry news over the summer period starting at the end of July, beginning of August when the NVWA first barred 180 poultry farms from sending their eggs to market because they may be contaminated with the pesticide.

Shortly after, Dutch food safety institute, RIKILT, was enlisted to analyze eggs from several poultry companies.

And it was during early August that the fipronil scare widened, rippling throughout other European countries with several retailers, including Aldi and Lidl in Germany, removing products from shelves.

Meanwhile, UK government agencies issued a warning that a small number of contaminated eggs have got into Britain’s food chain, saying that they would have already been consumed.

They were imported into the UK between March and June, according to the Food Standards Agency (FSA) which started an official investigation.

Initially, the Agency was keen to stress the contaminated eggs only represented a very small number of imported eggs, around the 20,000 mark. However, just a few days later that estimation went up with the FSA admitting it could be much higher.

And yesterday (August 24), the FSA released its latest position on the fipronil issue. It says it continues to trace egg products “which might contain fipronil” and has updated its withdrawal list with six additional products, which have been distributed to catering outlets.

“We have been meeting with industry to gather all the available information and to set out clearly which products need to be withdrawn. Products will be withdrawn if the amount of implicated egg is more than 15 percent of the product. Food businesses must comply with this or show that the egg ingredient used is compliant with the EU maximum residue level,” says a statement.

“The egg which we have found was incorporated into processed foods; fresh eggs on sale in the UK remain unaffected. Eighty-five percent of the eggs we eat in the UK are laid here. As a precaution, UK eggs are being tested for the presence of fipronil, and all initial results have been clear.”

Another significant development in the case was the arrest of two company directors in connection with the contamination scandal following coordinated raids involving Dutch and Belgian authorities, as well as the NVWA intelligence and investigation service.

Eight locations were searched in the Netherlands, while several locations in Belgium were also raided s part of the investigation which was supported by several locations in Belgium were also raided and searched as part of the investigation which took place with the support of Eurojust and Europol.

By Lucy Gunn & Gaynor Selby

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