Contaminated eggs imported to the UK

THOUSANDS of contaminated eggs that can cause liver problems have been sold and eaten in Britain, it has emerged.

More than 20,000 eggs from farms in the Netherlands at the centre of a European food scandal were exported to the UK between March and June, the Food Standards Agency said.

A spokesman said the eggs had been processed and gone into products for the retail and catering sector, including sandwich and wrap fillers as well as whole ready-to-eat eggs. He admitted that the products, believed to have been infected with an insecticide, would no longer be within their expiry date, meaning they will have already been consumed.

The FSA insisted there was unlikely to be any risk to public health but admitted it was still investigating.

Aldi and Lidl stores in Germany removed millions of eggs from their shelves amid fears they were tainted with traces of the pesticide fipronil. Aldi said it was a “purely precautionary” measure and added that eggs sold in its British stores were produced in this country. It was confirmed last night that some batches of the contaminated eggs had been found in France.

The scare started in the Netherlands and Belgium and it is thought that Dutch disinfectant is at fault.

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

The Dutch food authority shut 180 businesses last week and said that

following tests, 138 poultry farms will remain closed, with one batch posing “an acute danger to public health”.

Eggs from another 59 farms contained such high enough levels of fipronil that the food authority warned they should not be eaten by children.

In large quantities, fipronil, is considered to be “moderately hazardous” according to the World Health Organisation, and can have dangerous effects on people’s kidneys, livers and thyroid glands.

The insecticide is commonly used in veterinary products to treat fleas, lice and ticks. But it is banned on animals destined for human consumption such as chickens.

It is believed the substance was introduced by a Dutch business, named Chickfriend, which was called in to treat red lice, a parasite in chickens.

Britain produces 85 per cent of the eggs it consumes but imports almost two billion annually.

The British Egg Industry Council told the public 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”. The FSA said it had discovered that 21,000 eggs had been imported to Britain from contaminated farms on Saturday. But a spokesman said they had not received any information from the European authorities that any products had come into the UK since June.

In a statement, the FSA added: “The number of eggs involved is very small and the risk to public health is very low. We are working closely with the businesses that have received eggs from affected farms. Investigations indicate that affected products are no longer on the shelves.”