NEED FOR COMPETENT EGG LAWS/ REGULATION AND MONITORING IN NIGERIA: A LESSON FROM THE EU EGG CONTAMINATION SCANDAL!

There is a greater need for proper egg regulation and tight boarder security in Nigeria following the Egg contamination scandal rocking the EU.

The latest public Health crisis hinges on a poison called fipronil that has contaminated eggs across several EU countries, thanks to an illegal mite-killing detergent for chickens made by a company in Flanders called Poultry Vision.
It has been reported that Eggs contaminated with the said toxic insecticide which contain a WHO banned chemical substance called FIPRONIL, may have found its way into shops and markets, in the UK and other EU nations.
Fipronil is said to be very harmful to humans as it can damage organs ranging from the liver to the thyroid gland, and it’s especially harmful to children.Investigations revealed that British food safety authorities were alerted over the last weekend that eggs imported from Germany could be dangerous. This was revealed by the European Commission in Brussels on Monday. Officials in France, Sweden, Switzerland and all the EU countries have also been officially informed of the serious risk of such contaminated to consumers health and well-being.

In a statement released after the commission’s comments, the FSA acknowledged that eggs from affected farms on the continent had reached the UK.
“Following concerns raised in the Netherlands about a substance called fipronil which has been used inappropriately in cleaning products on chicken farms, we have identified that a very small number of eggs have been distributed to the UK from the farms affected,” the FSA said.

The FSA was informed through an alert by German authorities on Saturday, precisely, Itkonen said. She said the information was shared as a precautionary measure.
Reacting to that vital public Heath information, a spokesman for the British Food Standards Agency told press that  British food safety inspectors tried to trace 21,000 eggs imported from affected farms in the Netherlands between March and June, this year.

According to the World Health Organization, the toxic substance , FIPRONIL, can damage the liver, thyroid glands and kidneys if ingested in large amounts over time.

It was further gathered that the director of the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University in Belfast, Prof Chris Elliott, praised the FSA's quick response to the crisis, but warned it could be difficult to track down the eggs.

He expected that most of the contaminated eggs would have gone into the processed food industry. “It will go into bakery, where they are buying a lot of powdered egg,” he said. “If they are sold as shelled eggs they are most likely just going into a sandwich factory somewhere”.

However, Millions of eggs have been recalled from shops and and warehouses in Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany in recent weeks after some were found to contain high levels of the insecticide fipronil.
Fipronil is a common ingredient in veterinary products for getting rid of fleas, lice and ticks. It is banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption.

According to reports, the egg pollution scare has prompted fresh investigations into chicken meat. Food authority in the Netherlands, NVWA is investigating whether the chemical fipronil can also be found in other products after it learned that the cleaning company using the prohibited insecticide also worked for a number of meat companies in the Netherlands. However, the poultry industry claims there are no traces of fipronil to be found in meat in the Netherlands.
Across the EU, hundreds of farms have closed and sales of tens of millions of eggs have been halted.

Germany, which fears it has imported millions of contaminated eggs, is the most vocal critic. Regional officials angrily accused the Belgians of not picking up the phone and of not being “up to the job”. The agriculture ministry in Berlin said Christian Schmidt, Germany’s farm minister, called his Belgian counterpart Monday to demand “a fast and complete clarification of the ongoing situation.”

To this end, the Belgian Agriculture Minister Denis Ducarme and Health Minister Maggie De Block will try to explain Belgium’s handling of the crisis to parliamentarians Wednesday. Ducarme has called for a detailed report from Belgium's Federal Agency for the Safety of Food Chain (AFSCA) and prioritized consumer safety.

Surprisingly, the AFSCA  earlier admitted that it was informed in early June that traces of fipronil had made it into the food chain in Belgium, via eggs. But the agency failed to notify its partners in Europe of the development for nearly two months, and now its a full blown public Health emergency and scandal. The European Commission said last Monday that seven countries may be affected as of now. But fears have it that it could spread further if not properly managed.

If the public Health Authorities in Nigeria are not proactive, we may have to deal with Fipronil contamination consequences as a result of our large dependence on imported eggs and egg products, especially foreign dried eggs used largely in Nigeria for baking and other confectionery purposes.