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Eggs in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have been removed from shops and warehouses after test results revealed high levels of fipronil.
The pesticide, used for flea, lice and tick removal, is banned from use on animals destined for human consumption. It is toxic in large doses over a long period of time, damaging the liver, thyroid glands and kidneys.
Some 180 farms in the Netherlands have been closed temporarily while authorities examine the issue. It is suspected that a legal insecticide used in chicken farming had been spliced with the illegal fipronil to improve effectiveness.
UK, French and Polish tests
It has been suggested that one of the affected companies had sold produce to the UK, France and Poland, but no contaminated eggs have turned up there yet.
According to De Volkskrant, a Dutch newspaper, the illegal pesticide mix had been used on Dutch farms for over a year, and it is uncertain whether any contaminated eggs were eaten.
The NVWA, the Dutch food and product safety board, announced on Monday that one batch “had such elevated levels of fipronil that their consumption would present a serious public health risk”.
They suggested that children should not eat eggs from at least 27 other farms.
“We are still estimating the number of farms which have been affected, and the analysis of 600 samples is still ongoing,” said an NVWA spokesman.
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