PARIS, Aug. 7 (Xinhua) -- France's agriculture ministry confirmed on Monday that 13 batches of Dutch eggs contaminated with the insecticide Fipronil have been delivered to two different egg-product manufacturing factories in central-western France between July 11 and July 26.
The two food-procession factories are located in the districts of Vienne and Maine-et-Loire, the ministry said in a statement, adding that investigations are carried out in these factories by the Ministry's inspection services to assess the situation about concerned products and their destinations and to block products on investigation for analysis.
"Upstream professionals (egg producers) have been informed and asked to check their supplies. A meeting with downstream stakeholders (collectors, processors and distributors) was held on Monday to review the situation and increase monitoring and self-monitoring," said the statement.
On July 28, a poultry farm, located in Pas de Calais in northern France, was placed under surveillance after the farmer reported to French authorities that his Belgian supplier used the pesticide containing Fipronil.
"No eggs from this farm were placed on the market. The results of the analysis in progress will be released at the end of the week," the ministry explained.
Fipronil is a pesticide effective on a large number of pests. It is considered slightly poisonous by the World Health Organization (WHO) and is hence forbidden on animals destined for the food chain to prevent damage to the human liver, thyroid and kidney.
