EU calls summit as egg scandal spreads to Asia

Brussles, August 11 

The EU today called an emergency meeting to stop “blaming and shaming” over the insecticide-tainted eggs scandal as it emerged for the first time that the crisis had spread to Asia.

Hong Kong, Switzerland and 15 European Union countries have all received eggs contaminated with the chemical fipronil, which can harm human health, the European Commission said.

With concern going global, the commission said it had now called a meeting of ministers and food safety chiefs from affected EU countries, setting a provisional date of September 26.

“Blaming and shaming will bring us nowhere and I want to stop this,” Vytenis Andriukaitis, the European Commissioner for health and food safety, told AFP as he announced the meeting.

Andriukaitis urged the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany-the countries at the epicentre of the crisis-to stop trading accusations about who is responsible for the scare.

Dutch Health Minister Edith Schippers, speaking publicly about the matter for the first time, admitted late Thursday that errors had been made in the government’s handling of the crisis.

Millions of eggs and egg-based products have been pulled from European supermarkets since August 1 and there are growing questions about who knew what, and when.

European Commission spokeswoman Mina Andreeva said that “this is not, let’s be clear, a crisis meeting” and it is being held next month to get “distance to the events”.

Brussels said the 15 EU countries affected were Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, France, Sweden, Britain, Austria, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Denmark, along with non-EU Switzerland.

But it also announced that Hong Kong had received some tainted eggs, with the southern Chinese city becoming the first place in Asia known to be affected.

Hong Kong reported finding eggs from The Netherlands contaminated with fipronil, the commission said, without giving further details. The EU is seeking to quickly end the egg feud and maintain unity after a string of crises including Brexit, a migration influx and debt in the eurozone. — AFP

250,000 contaminated eggs sold in France since April

• Nearly 250,000 insecticide contaminated eggs have been sold in France since April, but the risk for consumers is “very low,” French Agriculture Minister Stephane Travert said
• A first batch of 196,000 eggs, imported from Belgium, was distributed between April 16 and May 2, and was followed by a second batch of 48,000 Dutch eggs sold by the discount retailer Leader Price between July 19 and 28, Travert said
• Millions of eggs have been pulled from European supermarket shelves, though some national regulators have voiced concern that many contaminated eggs have entered the food chain, mainly through processed products such as biscuits, cakes and salads
• “The risk for human health is very low, given the levels of fipronil detected in the contaminated eggs, but also given French habits of food consumption,” Travert said

The scare in Europe

• Fifteen EU countries as well as Hong Kong and Switzerland have received eggs contaminated with the insecticide fipronil, the European Commission says
• Fipronil is commonly used to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks from animals but is banned by the European Union from use in the food industry
• The EU insists there is no threat to human health, but the WHO says that when eaten in large quantities it can harm people’s kidneys, liver and thyroid glands
• The police arrested two persons in raids on companies in the Netherlands and Belgium. A criminal probe is under way 

What is being done about it?

• The UK food watchdog also said about 700,000 eggs had been sent to the UK from potentially contaminated Dutch farms, up from an earlier estimate of 21,000
• The Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it was very unlikely that there was a risk to public health.
• Processed foods containing eggs, including sandwiches and salads, have been recalled by leading supermarkets, including Sainsbury’s, Morrisons, Waitrose and Asda
• Supermarkets in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have also withdrawn millions of eggs from sale