10 August, 2017
Investigators in the Netherlands and Belgium carried out coordinated raids on Thursday linked to a probe into the discovery of the insecticide fipronil in European eggs, authorities said.
He said he wrote to his Dutch counterpart for an explanation, and also spoke to the European Commission's agriculture commissioner, "who seemed to already have this information".
Fipronil is a toxic anti-lice product that should not be used on animals destined for human consumption.
In total, about 80 egg-product-procession factories all over France would be involved in this national investigation, according to local media.
The FSA said the number of eggs involved represented about 0.0001% of the eggs imported into the United Kingdom each year and that there was no need for consumers to be concerned.
The Dutch food and goods watchdog NVWA rejected the claim.
He added: "The allegations that we knew about Fipronil in eggs in November 2016 are untrue". At the same time they are checking a distribution list in order to find out which food facilities have been supplied with the eggs.
"There was not a single indication that fipronil could also be present in eggs".
The insecticide scandal only became public on August 1 when authorities in the Netherlands ordered eggs pulled from supermarket shelves and urged shoppers to throw any they had away.
European Union bodies immediately notified food safety authorities in Britain, France, Sweden and Switzerland after it emerged that eggs contaminated with the insecticide may have entered their territories.
"We want to ensure that we can establish better control and transparency reports with our partners, because the batches of tainted egg come from both the Netherlands and Belgium", Travert said.
The problem is believed to stem from a substance used by a Dutch company, Chickfriend, that farmers in the Netherlands and Belgium say they hired to treat their chickens.
In large quantities, fipronil, is considered to be "moderately hazardous" according to the World Health Organisation, and can have risky affects on people's kidneys, liver and thyroid glands.
