Dutch police make arrests in contaminated eggs case

[webfact]

Dutch police make arrests in contaminated eggs case

 

FILE PHOTO: Eggs are packed to be sold at a poultry farm in Wortel near Antwerp, Belgium August 8, 2017. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir/File Photo

 

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch police arrested two suspects on Thursday as part of an investigation into the illegal use of a potentially harmful insecticide in the poultry industry, the Dutch prosecution service said.

 

Millions of chicken eggs have been pulled from European supermarket shelves as a result of the scare over the use of the insecticide fipronil, and hundreds of thousands of hens may be culled in the Netherlands.

 

Prosecutors said in a statement they had conducted raids at eight locations in the Netherlands and Belgium, confiscating cars and seizing bank accounts and real estate.

 

The arrested suspects were directors at Dutch company Chickfriend, which is at the centre of the scandal. Officials at the company could not be reached for comment.

 

Raids were conducted at locations linked to Chickfriend, which allegedly used the pesticide, as well as potential suppliers.

 

The company directors are suspected of threatening public health and possession of a prohibited pesticide, prosecutors said.

 

Fipronil is a popular insecticide to treat pets for fleas and ticks but it is forbidden for use in the food chain. The World Health Organisation considers fipronil to be moderately toxic and says very large quantities can cause organ damage.

 

PROCESSED FOOD

 

The German agriculture ministry estimates that 10.7 million possibly contaminated eggs were delivered to Germany from the Netherlands, according to a report to be published in the Rheinische Post newspaper on Friday.

 

The ministry, in response to a query from the Greens party, also cited growing concerns about processed foods that might contain contaminated eggs, and said data received from the Dutch and Belgian governments had been "insufficient", the paper said.

 

Romania's food safety authority, ANSVSA, seized one tonne of German origin liquid egg yolk contaminated with fipronil from a warehouse in the western county of Timis, it said on Thursday.

 

"The quantity was seized from the storage space of the unit which received it from Germany. No amount of that bunch was sold on the Romanian market. The 1,000-kilogram egg yolk will be neutralized by incineration," ANSVSA said.

 

In Britain, the Food Standards Agency (FSA) said it had found more eggs than previously believed had entered the food chain, mainly through processed food.

 

"It is very unlikely that these eggs pose a risk to public health, but as Fipronil is unauthorised for use in food-producing animals we have acted with urgency to ensure that consumers are protected," it said.

 

It is likely that the number of potentially contaminated eggs to enter the U.K. is closer to 700,000 than 21,000 previously reported, the FSA said.

 

(Reporting by Toby Sterling and Anthony Deutsch; Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal in Berlin and Radu Marinas in Bucharest; Editing by John Stonestreet and Toby Davis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-08-11

[BuaBS]

Makes you wonder what's in Thai eggs ....

[attrayant]

Do Thai eggs come from the EU?  If not, then I don't see the connection.

[sandrabbit]

1 hour ago, BuaBS said:

Makes you wonder what's in Thai eggs ....

Yolks & albumen?.

[BuaBS]

6 hours ago, attrayant said:

Do Thai eggs come from the EU?  If not, then I don't see the connection.

What no blood lice or other parasites in the chicken holocaust factories in Thailand ?  Or just nobody that checks for dangerous substances....

[attrayant]

4 minutes ago, BuaBS said:

chicken holocaust factories

 

Are we still talking about eggs?  

 

Quote

Or just nobody that checks for dangerous substances

 

I'm not sure if you're asking a question (no Q mark) or making an assertion.  You ended your sentence with an ellipsis; are you still thinking about how you want to finish that comment?  In any event, there is a Thai agency called the Department of Livestock Development.

 

Quote

The DLD is responsible for animal health, animal production and livestock extension, food safety of animal-derived products, veterinary public health, animal welfare, environmental impact of livestock farms and international animal health matters including disease control and eradication, quarantine, disease reporting, import-export controls, health certification, and monitoring of animal farms and slaughterhouses.

 

[Stargeezr]

For some will this result in more egg in the face?

 In Thailand that would be a big loss of face..

Geezer

[ThaidDown]

Eggs in the shops here should be checked.

 

It's possible that some of these contaminated eggs were imported into Thailand by a shell company.

 

 

[oldhippy]

2 hours ago, attrayant said:

Do Thai eggs come from the EU?  If not, then I don't see the connection.

The connection is that in Europe Big Bussines plays dangerous games with our food, but fortunately there are - insufficient - checks.

 

Do you think Thailand's Big Bussines is any different?

Do you trust Thai food safety checks?

Some Thai vegetables were banned from import into the EU.

 

 

[champers]

Plenty of EU standards, laws, edicts and rulings plus all the different regulating bodies and legislatures. Net benefit in this case? Not worth a balloon. Still, not to worry, hardly anyone eats eggs.

[attrayant]

9 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

The connection is that in Europe Big Bussines plays dangerous games with our food, but fortunately there are - insufficient - checks.

 

Do you think Thailand's Big Bussines is any different?

 

So, in the absence of evidence, we should assume malevolence?  Why?

 

9 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Do you trust Thai food safety checks?

 

Yes.  Do you have a reason why we shouldn't?  Is it because of this:

 

9 minutes ago, oldhippy said:

Some Thai vegetables were banned from import into the EU.

 

 

Trying to find the story behind this claim, I came up with this:
 

Quote

Food safety inspectors in Europe have found insects (pests) in Thai vegetables being imported into Europe. 

 

You realize that's not a pesticide problem right?  That actually a lack of pesticide problem.  And it's not that the produce is necessarily bad or dangerous or unhealthy, but they don't want an infestation of foreign pests in their ecosystem.

[attrayant]

23 minutes ago, champers said:

Plenty of EU standards, laws, edicts and rulings plus all the different regulating bodies and legislatures. Net benefit in this case? Not worth a balloon.

 

We have speed limit laws, yet people still drive too fast.  Does that mean the laws are ineffective and we should get rid of them?

 

It's unfortunate that the pesticide got into the food chain, however the presence of regulatory agencies means that somebody's going to pay the price for that.  The system is working as intended.  The only way to ensure 100% compliance and never have an infraction of any kind is to station regulatory enforcement guards at every single production plant and farm.  That's just unrealistic, so quit your bellyaching.

[champers]

1 minute ago, attrayant said:

 

We have speed limit laws, yet people still drive too fast.  Does that mean the laws are ineffective and we should get rid of them?

 

It's unfortunate that the pesticide got into the food chain, however the presence of regulatory agencies means that somebody's going to pay the price for that.  The system is working as intended.  The only way to ensure 100% compliance and never have an infraction of any kind is to station regulatory enforcement guards at every single production plant and farm.  That's just unrealistic, so quit your bellyaching.

No bellyache for me. I'm in Thailand, eating Thai eggs.

[Rancid]

Yet pumping hormones into animals, producing genetically modified foods are of course perfectly legal. Killing consumers later in life is perfectly acceptable, but poisoning them straight away isn't.

[farcanell]

1 minute ago, champers said:

No bellyache for me. I'm in Thailand, eating Thai eggs.

I'm bellyaching in Thailand... I think it was last nights chicken massaman!

[nahkit]

"The 1,000-kilogram egg yolk will be neutralized by incineration"

 

Possibly the biggest omelette ever?

[attrayant]

2 minutes ago, Rancid said:

Yet pumping hormones into animals,

 

That doesn't happen.  If you have to make up scary stories to support your position, maybe you should rethink your position.

 

2 minutes ago, Rancid said:

producing genetically modified foods are of course perfectly legal.

 

Because there's nothing wrong with that.

 

2 minutes ago, Rancid said:

Killing consumers later in life is perfectly acceptable, but poisoning them straight away isn't.

 

I see - that must be why lifespan has been increasing and cancer rates declining.  Right?  With the statement "killing consumers later in life", you are marking yourself as a conspiracy theorist.

[nahkit]

14 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

So, in the absence of evidence, we should assume malevolence?  Why?

 

 

Yes.  Do you have a reason why we shouldn't?  Is it because of this:

 

 

Trying to find the story behind this claim, I came up with this:
 

 

You realize that's not a pesticide problem right?  That actually a lack of pesticide problem.  And it's not that the produce is necessarily bad or dangerous or unhealthy, but they don't want an infestation of foreign pests in their ecosystem.

In 2014 there were well publicised problems regarding Thai vegetables containing formalin which was being used to make them appear fresh for longer.

 

Similar reports surfaced again last year.

[attrayant]

A quick search shows some concern over formalin in 2014 but it appears to be related to street vendors and local markets spraying the compound on their retail produce - nothing about EU bans or malfeasance by farmers, which is was was implied by the other poster.  We also had a discussion about it here: Thai Health Ministry warns of increasing use of formalin by vendors at fresh markets.

[Guest Jerry787]

what about CP , they are the N1 egg farm producer in Thailand 

may we have a real investigative journalist, try to find out what is happening in the poultry and egg industry in Thailand ?

despite eating egg its quite unhealthy even if they REALLY free range, indeed if pesticide, antibiotic, chlorine washing, lab created feeding, tainted water are added that make it even much worst.

[attrayant]

22 minutes ago, Jerry787 said:

what about CP , they are the N1 egg farm producer in Thailand 

may we have a real investigative journalist, try to find out what is happening in the poultry and egg industry in Thailand ?

 

Before you can have any kind of serious investigative journalism, the libel laws will need to be reformed in a big way.

 

22 minutes ago, Jerry787 said:

despite eating egg its quite unhealthy even if they REALLY free range, indeed if pesticide, antibiotic, chlorine washing, lab created feeding, tainted water are added that make it even much worst.

 

I think the cholesterol will do you in long before any of those other boogeymen will.  Just wash your eggs when you get them home - yes preferably in chlorinated water.