Contaminated eggs in Malta

I noticed that the same problem in the Netherlands and elsewhere, which would seem that this is not just a local issue. I did, however, notice that a supermarket in Bugibba replaced its stock of Italian eggs with ones from Malta. I suspect the problem must have come from contaminated chicken pellets, so without chasing down the supply chain of the individual bird food suppliers, and testing individual batches, there is nothing much most of us can do. Having lived through more food health scares than I can remember over the past 68 years, I am not about to panic over this as most of them have turned out to be a storm in a teacup. If you have young children though, I would advise a bit more caution. I have not forgotten the Chinese baby formula scandal with melamine being blended in to up the protein reading and never mind it taking out the kidneys and turning a few thousand blind.

As I remember there were untold lies put about to avoid admitting the scale of the problem and the fact that they had exported the stuff across Europe as well. When it comes to official statements about anything, a large dose of salt should usually be applied.There are, as they say, lies damn lies and government statements and that applies to every country I have ever visited.

I have noted that most, if not all testing for Malta is done in Italy and I do not entirely trust the lack of bias, So I just buy Maltese to back the economy of my new home and. if in doubt, check by dowsing.

To avoid any doubt, for now, no eggs for us

Hi, this is from my colleague who is Director of Health and Disease Prevention....

We have received a number of requests for information on the matter of Fipronil-contaminated eggs. Here is a summary of the information provided by the Superintendent for Public Health.
(a) Fipronil is a banned pesticide typically used on chicken farms.
(b) Traces of fipronil, well below the level considered as toxic, have been found in a number of egg samples involving imported eggs from two Italian farms and others from 5 local farms. All related stock was collected for destruction.
(c) All involved sources have been been stopped from selling any further eggs until the outcome of further confirmatory tests are known.
(d) The level found in the local eggs was at 25% of the level defined by the EU for a consumer recall. As a precautionary measures, nonetheless, the consumption of not more than 2 eggs per day per person is advised at this point in time.
(e) Chicken meat is not considered at risk at all since chickens intended for meat consumption are slaughtered at a very young age, way before Fipronil could accumulate in their muscles.
The above advice applies until further announcements on the matter are made by the Superintendent of Public Health.
For further information, please contact the Environmental Health Directorate, Malta. Tel: 2133 7333

Thanks for the replies. Of course, I am not afraid of getting ill inmediately, just the slow poisoning that will simply reduce the life expectancy or trigger in the future some illness.

So, all egg farms in Malta have been tested?

In any case, we should know the farms, so in the case we have bought some products from them, we can return them and ask for a refund. I will ask my retailer to see if it can tell me, although I very much doubt he will.

I don't think it matters where they came from or if you have some remaining. The farms were only found with 25% of the substance for product recall but they recalled them anyway. Hence only 2 a day to be consumed.

I thought that the government statement raised more questions than it answered. If Fipronil is banned and not merely restricted, the criminal offences have occurred on its manufacture/import, wholesale purchase and sale and retail purchase and sale, before it ever got into use. While these appear to be flouting EU rules across the book, it is usually down to the member states to enforce them. As has been shown, the failure to enforce the legislation has occurred across a vast swathe of the EU, but a lack of will or ability to enforce regulations brings the whole concept of health regulations into contempt, along with the rule of law, which is reduced to an arbitrary option.

Vagrant wrote:

I thought that the government statement raised more questions than it answered. If Fipronil is banned and not merely restricted, the criminal offences have occurred on its manufacture/import, wholesale purchase and sale and retail purchase and sale, before it ever got into use. While these appear to be flouting EU rules across the book, it is usually down to the member states to enforce them. As has been shown, the failure to enforce the legislation has occurred across a vast swathe of the EU, but a lack of will or ability to enforce regulations brings the whole concept of health regulations into contempt, along with the rule of law, which is reduced to an arbitrary option.

Totally agree!

It might not kill you, but as I have said, it cannot be anything good. I seem to recall having read, that if you live in USA you are 90 % more prone to get cancer or similar illnesses that if you live in India. Although there can be many explanations for this, taking a little bit of poison in your food cannot help keeping you healthy.

Also, I know by experience that minimum amount of dangerous substances have been changed many times. What in the 1970s was considered as safe, nowadays is absolutely banned. Possibly in 20 years time chemical amounts that now are deemed safe will be unsafe (although it seems the reverse as how things are going!).

Where does it end though? Does that mean you don't eat eggs ever? By your own words, what is today, might not be tomorrow. Do we stop at eggs? It's taken a couple of decades to get over salmonella! What about meats, veg? At least they've found this one and have dealt with it..... and anyway, who eats more than 2 eggs a day!!

I hardly eat any eggs so I didn't take much notice of this at all, but I just read that in the part of Austria I'm from, this poison has been found in 11 samples (I have no idea how many samples they tested in total), so it's certainly not just a Malta thing. Apparently the eggs in those 11 samples were imported from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Belgium. But like I said, I hardly ever buy or eat eggs, so I don't really care... and in the products I buy that contain eggs (like pasta, cakes, whatever), where the eggs come from is totally beyond my control, anyway...

I'm wondering how many of the people, who are concerned about the eggs issue, are smokers, drink alcohol on a regular basis, are obese, eat lots of processed foods and fat meat, live somewhere in the polluted centre ... or stuck in a stressful job etc. etc. ? 

They should be worried about their long-term lifestyle, not about eating possibly contaminated eggs every now and then. 

Well, I can tell you, I don't drink, nor I smoke, I am quite skinny, and my job isn't stressful. Ok, I do live in an area which is quite polluted and near a mobile antenna, but I am about to change that as soon as possible.

I forgot to post a small piece of info; I was told by my usual supplier that only the NutriVita eggs from Gozo were recalled (I had some on my fridge, which I threw out inmediately, although my family and I did ate some of them). Anyway, strangely today all eggs are out of stock for the online order, I hope there hasn't been another recall.

As a matter of fact, the other day I bought some organic eggs from PAMA, but they were tasting, looking and cooking exactly the same as regular ones. I only noticed the packaging and the price on my wallet . I wonder why it seems that nowadays, all eggs once fried seem very yellow and tasteless. When I was younger, and that is not very far away,  many times they were orange-red, and some I ate from the village of my grandparents in spain, they didn't even need salt, of so much flavour they had.

I must say that the vast majority of warnings I totally ignore, I have never been ill through carrying on eating food as normal.
Most of the time these warnings only are a matter of concern if you eat many times the normal amount.
One day something is good for you and the next day it is bad!

In Gozo your much more likely to get a good dose of cow sh*t on your tomatoes than a poisonous spray because chemical sprays are to expensive!

Ray

F0xgl0ve wrote:

In Gozo your much more likely to get a good dose of cow sh*t on your tomatoes than a poisonous spray because chemical sprays are to expensive!

... which can cause a severe E.coli-infection that is worse than any contaminated egg or pesticide poisoning. People think it's all organic as long as it stinks