The Agency for Food Chain Safety (“the AFSCA”) has currently carried out 3,085 checks in Belgium’s distribution sector.
This follows the contamination of eggs with Fipronil, discovered at the beginning of June. This update has been confirmed by the agency in a communiqué on Thursday. These checks showed that in 99% of cases, the products requiring withdrawal had been removed from the shelves. Around 20 offences have been picked up.
The AFSCA says that a report was prepared for each offence and all such offences have been followed up. Moreover the organisation has taken 240 samples of egg-based products for laboratory analysis. The agency stated that “Only one egg-based alcoholic drink, known as ‘advocaat’, consumed occasionally” appeared to be non-compliant. It had 0.021 mg/kg of Fipronil. However, as a precaution, all egg-based products were immediately withdrawn from sale.
None of the concentrations measured exceeded the European safety threshold. This is fixed at 0.72 mg/kg. The AFSCA said, “This means that there is no risk for public health identified in respect of products made from eggs.”
Other tests were carried out as a precautionary measure upon chicken manure, which may be used “within the substrate for the production of mushrooms.” The AFSCA concluded, “All of the results are compliant with food safety rules.”
