Pesticide-tainted eggs now found in 40 countries
by The Associated Press
Two directors of a Dutch company have been arrested as officials allege the company illegally mixed the pesticide Fipronil into spray used to treat lice on chickens
COPENHAGEN—A European Union official says 40 countries now have been affected by a continent-wide contaminated egg scandal, including 24 EU members and 16 non-members.
Vytenis Andriukaitis, the official in charge of health and food safety for the European Commission, said Sept. 5 in Estonia that only four countries in the 28-nation EU haven’t had eggs tainted by the pesticide Fipronil, considered a health hazard if consumed in large quantities. The unaffected EU nations are Lithuania, Portugal, Cyprus and Croatia.
Millions of eggs across Europe have been destroyed after they were found to contain traces of Fipronil.
No one has fallen ill in the scandal in which Fipronil was found to have been illegally mixed in an insect spray for chickens. At least two people in the Netherlands have been detained.
A Dutch court says that two directors of a poultry farm cleaning company at the centre of a Europe-wide tainted food scare must remain in custody for a further 30 days while investigations into their alleged involvement in the scandal continue.
A court in the eastern city of Zwolle said Wednesday that “there are sufficient serious concerns and reasons” to extend the men’s detention.
The men, whose identities have not been released, are directors of a Dutch company that allegedly illegally mixed the pesticide Fipronil into spray used to treat lice on chickens.
Millions of eggs in the Netherlands, Germany and across Europe were stripped from store shelves and destroyed after they were found to contain traces of Fipronil, which is considered a health hazard if consumed in large quantities.
