Fipronil tainted egg testing delayed for more than 10 days; Council of Agriculture demands Central Livestock Production Association complete testing within 48 hours

After more than a year, fipronil, a pesticide, has again been detected in domestic eggs, with more than 460,000 contaminated eggs reaching the market, causing panic among consumers. Huang Chin-cheng, deputy minister of the Council of Agriculture, held a press conference on the 18th to explain that most of the contaminated eggs flowed to small vendors and breakfast businesses, and none remain in stock. Regarding the testing process being delayed for more than 10 days, the Council of Agriculture reviewed the matter and demanded that the Central Livestock Production Association complete testing within 48 hours of receiving samples in the future, so as to seize the golden time for follow-up tracing.

Shunhong Ranch eggs exceed fipronil limit; Huang Chin-cheng: They must have been sprayed with fipronil to exceed the limit

Regarding Shunhong Ranch, which produced the non-compliant eggs in this case, three egg samples were found to exceed the fipronil limit, with detected levels of 0.03, 0.04 and 0.06 ppm respectively, exceeding the residue standard of 0.01 ppm. Huang pointed out that the livestock owner, surnamed Liao, owns three ranches in total. In addition to Shunhong Ranch, there are also Liao Shusheng Livestock Farm and Shunyi Ranch. However, in the retest report of February 14, no fipronil residue was detected in any of them.

As for why this batch of eggs contained fipronil residue, Huang Chin-cheng explained that the livestock owner of course said he did not use fipronil spray, "but I believe it must have been sprayed, otherwise it would not have exceeded the limit." In the past, livestock owners would spray fipronil on chickens to kill fleas, but since the year before last, fipronil aqueous solution has already been banned. Some operators may still have some unused stock on hand. But once the consumption period is over, they will not be able to buy it even if they try.

Regarding the operator's insistence that fipronil was not used, and that the retest also passed. Huang pointed out that the retest passed because the drug metabolizes quickly. Today it may test at 0.03 ppm, but if tested again three days later, it would no longer be detected, unless the level exceeds the limit by dozens of times, in which case the residue would last longer.

Testing process delayed for more than 10 days, missing the golden time for tracing

The local government completed sampling as early as January 25, but it was not until February 13 that the Council of Agriculture officially sent a document to the Food and Drug Administration and the Environmental Protection Administration. Most of the non-compliant eggs had long since been eaten by consumers. In response, Huang Chin-cheng admitted, "The testing process was delayed too long, causing delays in tracing problematic eggs." He further explained that the Central Livestock Production Association, which is responsible for testing, received the samples on January 28, but because many animal samples also had to be tested, the testing process had to be scheduled, so that this fipronil non-compliant egg case was not confirmed as exceeding the limit until February 13, after more than 10 days.

Huang Chin-cheng emphasized that for future fipronil test samples, the Central Livestock Production Association must complete testing within 48 hours of receiving samples, and increase machinery, equipment and manpower. "Within 48 hours, the test results must come out, only then is it possible to remove exceeding products from shelves and destroy them."

In addition to shortening the testing process, the sampling process must also be shortened accordingly. Huang said that layer farms in various places are sampled by local animal disease control centers, and in this case the Central Livestock Production Association did not receive the case until three days later, which took too long. Local animal disease control centers, for operational convenience, send samples together only after sampling is completed all at once. "In the future, local animal disease control centers will be required to sample on the same day and send on the same day." Relevant test results will also be published online, including the number of tests per year, the pass rate, and non-compliant chicken farms. "All data will be published, otherwise he (the livestock owner) will still harbor a take-a-chance mentality."

Importing two million eggs to regulate the market is a temporary measure

In addition, since the end of last year, the egg supply across Taiwan, China has been insufficient. In addition to allocating eggs from the south to the north, operators have also imported about two million eggs to supply domestic demand. But Huang Chin-cheng emphasized that the import allocation method is not the norm, but only a temporary adjustment to market demand. It is expected that domestic egg production will normalize in early March, and operators will then stop continuous imports.

Huang said that in the future, relevant data will also be integrated, including the number of chicks entering, pullets, laying hens and egg production, so as to assess domestic egg supply and avoid insufficient supply and soaring egg prices.