Four more egg farms found contaminated
Inspectors check eggs at a farm in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province, Wednesday. / Korea Times photo by Bae Woo-han
Safe eggs allowed release to market
By Jung Min-ho
Eggs contaminated with insecticides have been found on four more farms here, the government said Wednesday, bringing the total to six.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, the eggs were contaminated with either fipronil or bifenthrin.
Both chemicals are used to kill insect pests; but are also harmful to humans.
Seen above are eggs believed to have been contaminated with harmful insecticides. The markings on them indicate the region and farm they came from. / Courtesy of Ministry of Food and Drug Safety
The ministry noted some eggs at a farm with 55,000 hens in Cheorwon, Gangwon Province, were found to contain fipronil, which is banned from being used on poultry products here.
Eggs from three other farms in Yangju, Gyeonggi Province; Cheonan, South Chungcheong Province; and Naju, South Jeolla Province were also found to be contaminated with bifenthrin that were over permissible levels.
The ministry has carried out inspections on 243 out of 1,456 farms across the country since it confirmed the first case Monday in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province.
The ministry said the farms confirmed to be safe have been allowed to resume selling and distributing eggs to the market, saying the situation will return to normal by Friday.
“As the head of the government ministry in charge of food safety, I offer an apology for the latest scandal,” Minister Kim Yung-rok said. “We are taking swift and strong measures. All contaminated eggs and egg products will be destroyed.”
The decision came a day after the ministry banned all farms from transporting eggs Tuesday. The country’s three largest discount store chains and convenience stores were also ordered to remove eggs from their shelves until notified by the ministry.
The ministry is accelerating inspections of the remaining farms ― the final results are expected to be available Thursday evening.
With the growing health concern over eggs and egg products, President Moon Jae-in urged Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon to take charge of the crisis and use whatever means necessary to solve the problem.
“President Moon told the prime minister to comprehensively oversee the issue to reduce confusion, inform the public on the results of the ongoing inspection of all products and take all other necessary measures,” Cheong Wa Dae said in a press release.
Earlier, the prime minister ordered all contaminated eggs to be disposed of. He also noted they have not been distributed widely yet.
“Pesticide is used during the summer season due to mites living on hens, but the amount is not much,” he said.
Yet it may take a quite a while to rid consumers of their fears of contaminated eggs. Many people are now reluctant to eat eggs, while some are demanding a refund for those they bought before the news of the contamination broke.
Parents of small children are especially worried. Almost all education offices have issued temporary bans on the use of eggs in school meals.
“We sent out instructions ordering schools to stop using eggs in school meals for the safety of students, as concern grew in the wake of the detection of the pesticides in them,” an official at the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education said.
The office plans to take additional measures once the government reveals the final results of its inspection.
The education office in Busan also urged schools in the city not to use eggs for school meals until today.
“We will take this as an opportunity to strengthen safety checks on school meals,” an official said.
Consumers are also concerned that the incident will lead to hikes in egg prices. The minister said the government will try its best to stabilize these.