Germany will protest to Brussels after Belgian food safety authorities failed to warn neighbouring countries that millions of eggs had been contaminated with a potentially poisonous insecticide.
Supermarkets, including Aldi in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium have removed millions of eggs from shelves after Fipronil was found in Dutch, Belgian and French poultry farms.
Christian Schmidt, the German agriculture minister, will tomorrow call his Belgian counterpart Denis Ducarme to demand an explanation for the failure of Belgium to inform other countries that there was a public health problem.
“Somebody must have had criminal intentions when they contaminated eggs with a banned product,” he said.
“I expect the relevant authorities to look into this case quickly and in great depth. Belgium and the Netherlands in particular are obliged to.”
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One German official warned that up to 10 million contaminated eggs may have been sold in Germany. Around 180 poultry farms in the Netherlands have been closed while investigations are carried out in Europe’s largest exporter of eggs.
Belgian food safety authorities began investigating possible pesticide contamination in eggs in early June, several weeks before the public was made aware of a food safety scare.
The problem began with a Belgian breeder who suspected that a subcontractor was cleaning his chicken cages with Fipronil, which is banned from use in the production of food for human consumption.Belgian food safety investigators began an investigation but did not inform other countries where the subcontractor had been active in the poultry industry.
According to Belgian officials it was only on July 20 that a widescale problem was identified and the prospect of a major health scandal grew.
“We have known since early June there was potentially a problem with Fipronil in the poultry sector,” said a Belgian food safety spokesman.
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“We immediately launched an investigation and we also informed the prosecutor because it was a matter of possible fraud. It takes time.”
Prosecutors in both Belgium and the Netherlands are investigating and some poultry farms have been shut down. Belgium has also opened a case on the EU Food Fraud Network asking assistance from the Netherlands.
The insecticide can be absorbed by the skin or ingested orally. Eating eggs contaminated by Fipronil can lead to liver, kidney and thyroid damage only if eaten in very large quantities.