TALLINN, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- Estonian Minister for Rural Affairs, Tarmo Tamm, on Tuesday stressed the need for better cooperation and exchange of information between EU countries after the fipronil scandal.
The health of EU citizens is extremely important and that the Estonian Presidency of the Council of the European Union will take the issue very seriously, Tamm was quoted as saying in a statement.
He expected to "resolve these kinds of crisis situation faster and more efficiently".
On the last day of a three-day informal meeting of EU ministers for agriculture and fisheries, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis informed the EU ministers on the steps taken by his commission after the incident and the actions that will follow.
He invited the ministers to a high-level ministerial meeting in Brussels on Sept. 26 to discuss how to improve the way EU networks are dealing with food safety and food fraud.
In several EU member states, authorities have found eggs and egg products that have been contaminated with fipronil.
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 human liver, thyroid and kidney.
While the risk to human health is low, the consequences of this criminal activity have greatly impacted consumer confidence, as the ramifications of the illegal use of fipronil on laying hens has become an EU-wide issue with hundreds of farms blocked from production, said the statement.
