Fipronil egg scandal spreads: 15 cases exceed limits, affecting Taichung, Changhua, Nantou, Tainan and Kaohsiung
In response to the recently escalating fipronil egg incident, the Council of Agriculture announced the latest sampling results this afternoon, with a total of 15 egg products found to exceed the limit, including farms in Taichung, Changhua, Nantou, Tainan and Kaohsiung all failing the test. As for the specific distribution channels, the Council of Agriculture stated that after the sampling results came out at 3 p.m. today, the relevant units are still conducting on-site investigations.
Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Chen Chi-chung explains the testing situation (photo provided by the Council of Agriculture)
All 1470 chicken farms tested, results to be released tomorrow afternoon
When will the complete test results be released? Council of Agriculture Deputy Minister Huang Chin-cheng emphasized that results are expected as early as tomorrow afternoon, and all eleven testing units nationwide have already been mobilized to work at full speed. These sealed egg products will also be handed over to nine companies to be processed into compost, and before use it must be confirmed once again that fipronil shows zero detection, only then can it finally be used on vegetables, fruits and other crops.
Problem egg products consumed before testing
As for the Liancheng farm that tested at the highest level of fipronil, 153ppb, it claimed it purchased the pesticide from a vendor to eliminate chicken lice. Has the identity of the vendor and the distribution of other drugs actually been traced?
Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Director Huang Tsai-chang pointed out that the high level detected at that farm should be because it had "just finished using it." The identity of the vendor currently selling it has already been confirmed, and relevant evidence was found at his residence, revealing that what the vendor was selling was a 4.95% water suspension concentrate that currently has no approved use scope, but the vendor tore off the label to deceive farmers into buying it, thus involving criminal liability for violating Article 83 of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act for the crime of selling counterfeit drugs, punishable by up to 7 years imprisonment.
At the same time, could the problem egg products have already entered consumers' stomachs? Huang Tsai-chang stated that because fipronil does not appear out of thin air, the egg products on the market may have been eaten, similar to the situation in Europe, but he also pointed out that from a dietary perspective, consumers do not face great risk, unless they eat eggs every day, and only after eating them for several years would problems arise.
No medication available for deworming chickens, attention should be paid to environmental hygiene and cleanliness
In addition, under current regulations there is no legal veterinary drug for external parasites on chickens. How should this be regulated going forward? And is it possible that other ingredients could be detected? Huang Tsai-chang explained that ordinary chicken farmers would not directly spray insecticide on poultry. If disinfection is needed, in an empty house situation general environmental pesticides can all be used. But to eliminate external parasites such as fleas and chicken lice, the most important thing is to maintain a clean and hygienic environment, and it is even possible to achieve all-in-all-out for laying hens, leaving a period of time to thoroughly clean the chicken house.
Regarding the above issues, Bureau of Animal and Plant Health Inspection and Quarantine Deputy Director Shih Tai-hua emphasized that currently there is no medication specifically for chicken lice domestically or abroad, and if there is one, manufacturers are encouraged to apply to the relevant units as soon as possible. At the same time, there are one to two hundred kinds of insecticides, too many to test them all, but the Bureau conducts 10,000 veterinary drug tests a year, and among insecticides it also selects fipronil, the highest-risk one, for testing, thereby achieving good risk control.