Two in Dutch court over tainted-eggs scandal

ZWOLLE, NETHERLANDS: Two Dutch men appeared in court on Tuesday in connection with the tainted-eggs scandal that swept Europe this month, which saw millions of eggs destroyed and caused tens of millions of euros in damages.

The men, identified in Dutch media reports as Martin van de B, 31 and Mathijs IJ, 24, briefly appeared before a judge at the Overijssel District Court in the central Dutch city of Zwolle, in a hearing that was closed to the public.

“The judge decided that there is currently enough suspicion to keep the men in custody,” the court said in a statement.

“The public prosecution service suspects the two managers of a disinfection company of using fipronil at poultry farms in the Netherlands,” it said.

“Thereby they endangered public health, and there are suspicions they knew that the biocide was banned,” the court said.

The two men were arrested on Thursday as agents raided eight premises — including the two men’s company, Chickfriend — in the Netherlands as well as in Belgium.

Dutch farmers and retailers this week began counting the costs stemming from fipronil scandal, which has now affected 17 European countries and stretched as far as Hong Kong.

Initial damages to poultry farms were estimated at least 150 million euros ($175 million), a spokesman for the ZLTO federation of southern Dutch farmers and gardeners said on Monday.

Millions of eggs have been pulled from supermarket shelves and destroyed across Europe and dozens of poultry farms closed since the discovery of contamination with fipronil, which can harm human health, was made public on August 1.