The poison eggs ring the alarm bells of EU food safety

The event of "poison egg" start from Belgium investigators found traces of a harmful agent in the imported eggs from Netherlands. Then, the Dutch Media exposed that more than 100 farms found to use poisonous insecticide fipronil in the chicken barns. These poison eggs related to a Dutch company that offers insecticidal services to the farm. As one of the major exporters of poultry products in Europe, Netherlands produced 11billion eggs each year, and more than half of eggs were export to other countries. The "poison egg" incident shocked the world.

Millions of eggs were subsequently removed from shelves in Belgium, Germany, and Netherlands, and Netherland authority closed 100 poultry farms which used fipronil, and arrest the responsible person. According to the reports, some farms in the Netherlands have used mixed insecticides for more than one year, with one of the producers have big customers in the UK, France and Poland and many other countries. The Food safety department requests the importers to verify the original, while strengthening supervision of eggs.

What is fipronil?

Fipronil is insecticide. In some respect, it can kill cockroaches, fleas, mites and lice, etc., while in agriculture, Fipronil can used in the soil planted corn and foliar fertilizer. In order to protect environment, some normal fertilizer can be used as insecticide. For example. use of 0.05% -0.1% zinc sulfate solution spray sweet pepper for one time in planting and fruit period, will reduce the occurrence of virus disease and increased yield.

World Health Organiztion listed Fipronil as a middle toxicity chemical. Fipronil is harmful to both humans and animals. In humans the substance can cause damage to the kidney, liver and thyroid gland. EU law stipulated that fipronil cannot be used in human food industry and poultry breeding. In other industry, the residues cannot exceed 0.005 mg.