Contaminated eggs sent to British shops

FOOD: Thousands of eggs from Dutch farms which have been implicated in a contamination scare were distributed to Britain. The Food Standards Agency is “urgently” investigating.

THOUSANDS OF eggs from Dutch farms which have been implicated in a contamination scare were distributed to Britain, it emerged yesterday.

The Food Standards Agency confirmed that as many as 21,000 eggs from Dutch farms implicated in the incidents were distributed to Britain between March and June, the Food Standards Agency has said. The public health threat to the UK from eggs possibly tainted by the pesticide Fipronil remains “very low” but the FSA is “urgently” investigating where they may have been sold.

The FSA says this is a very small proportion of the 1.8bn eggs the UK imports each year. Around 85 per cent of eggs consumed in Britain are home-produced.

The agency said its investigations indicate any affected products are no longer on sale, adding the “low level of potential exposure” means consumers should not be concerned.

Aldi and Lidl stores in Germany, along with Dutch supermarkets, have already taken millions of eggs off shelves. Aldi said it was “purely precautionary” and added that those sold in its UK outlets are produced in Britain.

The scare started in the Netherlands and Belgium, where it is thought that a disinfectant used in products on chicken farms was at fault.

Dozens of farms are being checked in the Netherlands, while Belgium’s food safety agency is probing how Fipronil might have entered eggs destined for supermarkets.

Belgian authorities admitted a farm alerted them to possible contamination in June – several weeks before the scare became public knowledge – but they thought it was an isolated case.

The British Egg Industry Council said there was no need to “change the way they cook or consume eggs” and that buyers should look for the British Lion mark to ensure they are getting “safe British eggs”.

Fipronil is banned in products used around food-producing animals.

Reported adverse effects from consumption include sweating, nausea, vomiting, head and stomach pain, dizziness and seizures, according to the US National Pesticide Information Centre.

On its website, the FSA said: “Our risk assessment, based on all the information available, indicates that as part of a normal healthy diet this low level of potential exposure is unlikely to be a risk to public health.”

The European Union said it had notified food safety authorities in Britain, France, Sweden and Switzerland as a precautionary measure that some contaminated eggs might have entered their territory.