- Title: Belgian farmer fears economic consequences as contaminated egg scandal widens
- Date: 8th August 2017
- Summary: BRUSSELS, BELGIUM (AUGUST 7, 2017) (REUTERS) EUROPEAN FLAGS
- Embargoed: 22nd August 2017 16:45
- Keywords: poultry farms potentially harmful insecticide fipronil contaminated eggs European Commission
- Location: WORTEL AND BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- City: WORTEL AND BRUSSELS, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Health/Medicine
- Reuters ID: LVA0036TARV47
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: A Belgian farmer whose farm was shut down for ten days as fipronil insecticide checks were made by authorities said on Tuesday (August 8) he was among the lucky ones who had not used the chemical and so had escaped the worst economic fallout of the scandal.
Paul Geens, who runs a poultry farm in the north of the country near the border with the Netherlands, said his farm was among the 57 Belgian poultry companies that had banned from selling their products because his name was on the records of a Dutch company, suspected of being behind the contamination, even though he did not buy their products.
His farm has since been allowed to resume sales but with about 90,000 eggs laid each day, Geens said he was lucky to be able to get rid of his stock.
Despite the farm re-opening, Geens said he was still expecting a fall in sales, as happened during Belgium's previous sanitary crises.
Other farmers in Belgium and in the Netherlands are facing more dire consequences.
Millions of hens may need to be culled in the Netherlands after traces of the potentially harmful insecticide were found in eggs, a Dutch farming group said.
Retailers in several European countries have pulled millions of eggs from supermarket shelves as the scare over the use of the insecticide widened.
Germany's agriculture minister said on Tuesday that the contamination of millions of eggs with the potentially harmful insecticide was "criminal".
The European Commission said it had first learned about the contamination in late July when it received an official notification from Belgium, but had not yet established whether the country had broken any rules by not notifying sooner. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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