The 40th session of an FAO Conference adopted a draft resolution last month with a view to having the General Assembly of the United Nations consider, at is next session in September to declare 7 June as World Food Safety Day. “World Food Safety Day will raise awareness of the global threat posed by foodborne diseases and reinforce the need for governments, the food industry and individuals to do more to make food safe and prevent these diseases,” said Ren Wang, director FAO department of agriculture and consumer protection.

The Joint FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius Commission made the proposal to create such a day on a permanent basis at its 39th Session in Rome in 2016. Food safety was the theme of World Health Day in April 2015.

Awilo Ochieng Pernet, chairperson of the Codex Alimentarius Commission, said it would enhance consumer health protection and lead to a reduction in foodborne diseases. "The World Food Safety Day will contribute to raising awareness about the importance of food safety among all relevant stakeholders including the public and private sectors and all actors in the food chain, from primary producers to consumers.”

The Dutch food and product safety board has locked down more than 20 egg farms, because they are suspected of using an illegal insecticide called Fipronil to control red mite.

Latest estimates from the government agency are that 200 farms are involved, but in what scope is not yet known. Earlier, after the first alarms went off in Belgium, 4 Dutch farms tested positive for residues in eggs above the maximum residue limit of 0,005 mg/kg. Although there is no immediate danger to public health, farms that produce eggs above the threshold cannot go on the market. Some experts expect that traces of the insecticide can stay in the abdominal fat of the layers for up to 8 month, rendering them worthless.

Cause of the contamination

As the scandal unfolds, more and more details are surfacing on the cause of the contamination. Most of the farms had their houses and/or birds treated by a Dutch firm called Chickfriend. This company bought a product from a Belgian company. The owner of a pest control company in the Belgian Ravels-Weelde is suspected of having added Fipronil to an authorised drug for red mite control and then resold this mixture. The company would have added Fipronil to the product Dega-16. Dega-16 is a natural product consisting of menthol and eucalyptus, which is used to control red mite in laying hens and is –by itself- safe, even for human consumption.

The Belgian government started the investigation after an egg processor in the Belgian town of Sint-Niklaas reported to the Federal Food Safety Authority (FAVV) that it had found Fipronil in eggs. After further research the Belgian authorities informed the European food safety warning system RASFF, because they had leads that the eggs were being exported to France, Germany, Italy and Poland. This, in turn, alerted the Dutch officials to start to look into the matter.

NVWA, the Dutch foodsafety authority issued a inmediate warning about certain badges of Dutch eggs tainted with the pesticide fipronil. The eggs are recalled from stores and traders. Consumers are adviced to check the badges on the NVWA website.
In 1 batch the amount of fipronil, a pesticide not allowed to be used in farming hens, in the eggs was found so high that eating the eggs could be harmful.
Other batches are tainted, and not fit to be used as food.
https://goo.gl/Ac48YY (Dutch)

A sixteen-month investigation into food fraud in Europe has revealed a tapestry of criminal activity across the meat industry including substitution, the use of undeclared mechanically separated meat, inadequate and incorrect labelling and deception around meat quantities.

The frauds came to light after seven EU consumer groups carried out tests on meats sold in their countries between April 2014 and August 2015. A report published by the European consumer organisation BEUC reveals that consumers are continuing to be duped when buying meat products despite lessons learnt from the horsemeat scandal. Research carried out in the UK by the consumer group Which? a year after the horsemeat scandal found 40 per cent of lamb takeaways had been contaminated with other meats with some containing no lamb at all. Out of 60 takeaway lamb curries and minced kebabs bought from restaurants in Birmingham and London 24 had been mixed with other meats, seven contained no lamb at all and five contained unidentifiable meat that had been over cooked or re-cooked.