UK’s Food Standard Agency to Track Down Fipronil Contaminated Products

Eggs affected by the Fipronil chemical have now been confirmed as spreading to 17 European countries, from the Netherlands, Belgium, Romania, Germany, to Sweden, France, and the UK. These eggs were also delivered outside Europe, reaching as far as Hong Kong.

Although the risk to public health has been confirmed as very small, millions of eggs and other products have already been pulled from supermarket shelves across Europe.

It remains very unlikely that there is any risk to public health, but as Fipronil is not authorized for use in food producing animals, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) is tracking down implicated food products and ensuring that they are removed from sale.

The eggs may have been supplied from affected farms in the Netherlands before the blocks on these farms were imposed, and incorporated into processed foods. Fresh eggs on sale in the UK remain unaffected. Most of the additional egg products that have been identified were imported into the UK in liquid form, so it is no longer practicable to provide a figure in terms of whole eggs. However, “it remains the case that the egg we have identified represents only a fraction of a single percentage of the eggs we consume in the UK every year,” says the FSA 85% of the eggs eaten in the UK come from the country’s farms. As a precaution, UK eggs are being tested for the presence of Fipronil, and all initial results have been clear.

New information from the European authorities and from the UK food industry is helping FSA with the ongoing investigations.

Heather Hancock, chairman of the FSA, said: “Our advice remains clear – there’s no need to change how you buy or consume eggs. We are responding very quickly to any new information, to ensure that any products left that contain egg from the affected farms is withdrawn immediately. We’re doing this because Fipronil is not authorized for use in food producing animals, not because we are concerned about any risk to health.”

Professor Alan Boobis, Chair of the independent Committee on Toxicity said: “Even at the highest level found, consumption of one or two meals containing these eggs in a day would not pose a danger. It is very unlikely that anyone in the UK would have been exposed to anything close to this, and there is no reason for consumers to be concerned.”