Dutch organic egg farm still blocked as dioxin source remains unknown

By Rory Harrington

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Netherlands Food

Eggs from the organic producer at the centre of the dioxin-contaminated egg incident in the Netherlands remain blocked as authorities continue to seek the cause of the outbreak.

The Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and Innovation told FoodProductionDaily.com today that all eggs produced at the single farm continue to be blocked and would be destroyed.”

“Investigations about the source of the contamination on this particular farm are ongoing,” said a spokeswoman from the Ministry. “The farm will remain ‘closed’ until the produced eggs fulfil the legal requirements again.”

Delhaize recalls eggs

Last week, Belgium retail chain Delhaize announced it had recalled its BIO eggs as a precautionary measure over concerns of possible dioxin contamination.

Its organic eggs sold in boxes of six and ten with use by dates of 25 August, 1 September and 7 September were all affected, said a statement from the company.

The update comes after the Dutch authorities reported 15 August that dioxin contaminated eggs from the site had been exported to Belgium and Luxembourg.

RASFF report

In a notification to the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF) they confirmed eggs containing dioxins at levels reaching 2.07 pg WHO TEQ/g and dioxin-like polychlorobifenyls at 12.31 pg WHO TEQ/g had been detected.

The food safety agency said the eggs from one organic farm in the country had been sent to an egg packing station in Belgium and from there to one retail chain in the country and another in Luxembourg.

The Dutch said they were unable to confirm the volume of eggs involved.

“We can't provide any information on the quantity of contaminated eggs, they were not counted by us and any estimation would therefore be useless,”​ Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority press spokesman Roel Vincken said.

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