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March 29, 2024

Egg crisis escalates as contamination discoveries continue

PUBLISHED : August 18, 2017 - 17:49

UPDATED : August 18, 2017 - 17:49

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[THE INVESTOR] Consumer fears about eggs contaminated with insecticides continue to rise amid government announcements naming farms that have been found to use prohibited chemicals on their chickens.

The Agriculture Ministry said on Aug. 18 that as of 10 p.m. on Aug. 17, an additional 13 farms had been found with eggs containing prohibited chemicals or excessive levels of permitted chemicals.




The chemicals detected include fipronil, bifenthrin, flufenoxuron, etoxazole and pyridaben. 

In particular, fipronil is the same substance that caused an egg panic in Europe after being first discovered in eggs in Belgium and the Netherlands. It is a wide-spectrum pesticide that is used to de-flea dogs and cats, but is not permitted for use on poultry.

According to a health risk assessment released by the French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety on Aug. 17, fipronil is a moderate toxin that usually shows mild and reversible health effects after acute risk. 

The maximum number of eggs tainted with fipronil that can be consumed at once by an adult “without exposure to acute risk” is ten. For children between one to three years, it is one egg per occasion.

As of Aug. 17, the total number of farms producing eggs in violation of health standards stood at 45 since the first tainted egg was found on Aug. 15.

Of the 45 farms, 28 were farms that had been certified by the government as being “eco-friendly.” The eco-friendly designation requires that no insecticides or pesticides are used in the production of eggs on these farms.

Despite the government‘s continuous updates on possibly tainted eggs, consumers remain wary -- not least because the two agencies tasked with handling the crisis seem unable to keep track of their data.

Since Aug. 16, the Agriculture Ministry and the Food Safety Ministry have been continuously releasing corrections to lists of farms that did not pass the safety inspection.

Some farms have also been discovered to have not been stamping their eggs with obligatory codes showing their origin, increasing consumer worries. The Food Safety Ministry has promised to overhaul its process for certifying farms as being pesticide-free, as well as the system for managing eggs being sold to the public.

Retailers have been moving quickly to quell consumer fears about purchasing potentially toxic eggs. The largest retailers simultaneously pulled all eggs from their shelves on Tuesday and began restocking only from farms that had been green-lighted by government agencies. 

Major bakeries have also put out signs at their stores, assuring consumers about the safety of the eggs used in their products.

“The farms that supply our eggs have been both confirmed as being safe by the government, and we have also conducted our own internal tests,” said an official with one food company. According to the official, sales of products that use large quantities of eggs have not been affected by the crisis so far.

The government is to give a final briefing on the results of its inspections on Aug. 18. 

By Won Ho-jung/The Korea Herald (hjwon@heraldcorp.com)

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