By Rachael Porter
Since late July, millions of contaminated Dutch eggs and processed products containing themhave been pulled from the shelves of supermarkets, across the UK and Europe. But how did the contamination happen and could it happen here in the UK? And what impact has the scare had on egg consumption in the UK?
Product withdrawals, investigations and recriminations are continuing three months after the start of the fipronil egg contamination scandal. More than 20 million Dutch eggs have been removed from sale since news of the scare first broke in July. And 200 Dutch poultry units and more than six million birds have been affected.
The contamination was the result of a chemical, containing fipronil, being used to spray poultry housing to control red mite. Red mite is an enormous problem on poultry units in the Netherlands “worse than it is in the UK,” says NFU poultry board member Charles Bourns, who attended an International Egg Commission meeting, held in Bruges in September. “And it’s this problem provided an opportunity for the fraudsters.”
Eric Hubers, chairman of the Dutch poultry organisation LTO/NOP, spoke about the scandal at the meeting and said that, so far, it’s cost the industry £33 million. “And they expect this to rise to around £50 million,” said Bourns, who is also chairman of Copa Cogeca’s poultry and eggs working party. “Many of the 200 egg producers affected will also go out of business because of the scandal. They don’t have the money to restock and even those who do have the capital to reinvest will struggle on for a few months because the number of young pullets they need just isn’t available at the moment.”
Not licenced
Bourns asked Hubers why his business had avoided the scandal. “How come he hadn’t used the product in question in his poultry houses, particularly since red mite is such a huge problem on Dutch units? And he told me that he was suspicious. He thought it was too good to be true.”
Turns out he was right. The company who supplied the chemical sold it as an essential-oil product. But another active ingredient was fipronil. It was aware that the product contained fipronil, which is not licenced for use around food-producing livestock. But the people buying and using it on farm were not. But they, illegally, applied it to housing containing stock. It should only be used, under licence, in empty poultry housing.
A Belgian company, Antwerp-based Poultry-Vision, has already admitted that it provided the insecticide called fipronil to Chickfriend, through a source in Romania. And the Dutch public prosecutor’s office said its investigation was focusing on the Dutch company that allegedly applied the fipronil and the alleged Belgian supplier, and a company from the Netherlands suspected of collaborating with the Belgian supplier.
Cover up?
Indeed, the European Commissioner has vowed to pursue the culprits, not least due to the far reaching and extremely serious implications of their actions. “And it’s not just what they did “it’s the fact that they said nothing about it for more than five months,” says Tony Raymond, director of Herefordshire-based cleaning chemical supplier JP Raymond.
Dutch food safety officials were tipped off that fipronil was in being used, illegally, on poultry units as long ago as November 2016.
“I think the biggest issue, the one that warrants further investigation, is that they didn’t do anything for several months. And by then 200 flocks had been affected.”
Raymond is fairly confident that such a ‘mistake’ is unlikely to happen in the UK, not least because all cleaning products used to clean livestock housing must be DEFRA approved. This approval system is more stringent than EU accreditation. DEFRA is particularly strict on labelling “all active ingredients must be listed.”
“And many products have been resubmitted for DEFRA approval during the past three years,” says cleaning specialist James Pritchard, director of Herefordshire-based Pritchard Contractors. “So the pool of products now available to use are all licenced and safe, provided they’e used according to the label.”
Pritchard, who has 12 years of experience in the industry, stresses that cleaning operatives are fully trained and many also enroll in continual professional development (CPD) courses. “I’ve been on several CPD courses “it’s important to keep up to speed with the latest chemical and application developments. I’ve even been to the factories where the cleaning chemicals are made.”
He adds that the use of products containing fipronil is permitted in empty sheds. “But the buildings where it was used in the Netherlands contained laying hens that were mid-way through their laying period, and that’s why is was such a serious problem. It should never be used near food-producing livestock.”
Continual testing
The FSA told Poultry Business that the Veterinary Medicines Directorate (VMD), which tests UK produced eggs, acted quickly to add Fipronil to the extensive list of substances for which UK eggs are tested, under the annual residues surveillance programme. “And, as a precaution, UK-laid eggs continue to be tested for the presence of Fipronil, and all results so far have been clear,” said an FSA spokesperson.
They added that the UK authorities for food safety (FSA and FSS) have carried out traceability investigations and have been working with industry and its trade organisations to identify products containing eggs from implicated farms.
Several products such as egg and mayonnaise sandwich fillers and egg salad that contain these eggs were withdrawn from sale. “We have asked industry to withdraw products if the amount of implicated egg is more than 15% of the product, although it is still very unlikely to be a risk to public health.”
UK implications
Such a serious mistake and failure to report it has cost the Dutch egg and poultry industry dearly and certainly to the tune of several million Euro. But what about the implications for the UK egg industry?
Sales of eggs in the UK have been affected, says British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) CEO Robert Gooch. Total volume of egg sales was down 2% for August, but free-range egg sales, as a proportion of total sales, was up 1%.
This signifies the confidence that UK consumers have in free range. The scare saw them switch their buying habits accordingly “they felt that free range was a safer option. We don’t expect their buying habits to change permanently, however. We know that, in a month or two, when the scare has been forgotten that many will move back to conventional eggs.”
Processors and retailers, however, are likely to have longer lasting memories of the scandal, considering the volume of product that some were forced to remove from the shelves. “And this presents British egg producers with an opportunity and it’s something we’ve already been in touch with processors and retailers about,” says Gooch.
UK opportunity
He says that he’s hopeful that many retailers and processors will consider switching to buying and using British eggs both Lion and Laid In Britain for manufacturing products. “This scandal has served to highlight just how vulnerable the food chain is when it comes to food scares. So we’re doing all we can to urge processors and retailers to switch using to traceable, assured British eggs. It certainly represents an opportunity for UK egg producers to highlight the stringent food safety and quality standards that they adhere too and the premium quality of their product.”
Minimal impact
Charles Bourns agrees that the scandal has had minimal impact on UK producers and the UK egg industry. No shell eggs “only processed products containing eggs “were withdrawn from the market. The equivalent of one million Dutch eggs.
“But there’s a lesson here for all poultry producers about the products they use to clean poultry housing and control mites. Make sure 100% that what you’re using is licenced and approved.”
What is fipronil?
Fipronil is a toxic insecticide. It is a common ingredient in veterinary products for getting rid of fleas, lice and ticks but is banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption.
What risks does it pose?
When consumed in large quantities it is considered moderately hazardous, according to the World Health Organisation. It can be dangerous to the kidneys, liver and thyroid glands. But the FSA says that the risks are low and the decision to withdraw affected products is based on the fact that fipronil is not being authorised for use in food-producing animals, rather than safety concerns.
Egg-based product withdrawals continue
In September the FSA has confirmed that a further 26 products had been pulled from shelves taking the total to 65 in the wake of the fipronil contamination scandal. The products include cake mixes and 19 liquid egg products, which were distributed to wholesalers, food service and manufacturers.
The FSA’s move is part of ongoing investigations into the UK’s exposure to the fipronil scandal, which has seen more than 20 million eggs withdrawn from sale across Europe due to links with poultry farms in the Netherlands where laying hens were exposed to the insecticide.