- Title: Belgian town scrambles giant omelette as egg contamination scare looms
- Date: 15th August 2017
- Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (FRENCH) MEMBER OF "THE FRATERNITY OF THE OMELETTE OF MALMEDY", RAOUL LESIRE, SAYING: "Today we can show that with the ongoing issue, we can show all the people who will eat the omelette today that they will not get sick." OMELETTE BEING STIRRED OMELETTE BEING PLATED VARIOUS OF PLATES OF OMELETTE BEING GIVEN OUT TO PEOPLE IN CROWD (SOUNDBITE) (French) MAN WHO IS ATTENDING GIANT OMELETTE EVENT FOR THE FIRST TIME, JULIEN BETTENHAUSEN, SAYING: "There are so many problems at the moment, so no it's (fipronil contaminated eggs) not such big deal." (SOUNDBITE) (French) WOMAN WHO IS ATTENDING GIANT OMELETTE EVENT FOR THE FIRST TIME, SURIANO FLORINDA, SAYING: "Despite the scandal we came anyway." JOURNALIST ASKING (French): "What does it taste like?" "It tastes very good." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE SEATED, EATING OMELETTE CROWD AT SQUARE
- Embargoed: 29th August 2017 16:00
- Keywords: Eggs omelette fipronil Malmedy Belgium potentially harmful insecticide health scare
- Location: MALMEDY, BELGIUM
- City: MALMEDY, BELGIUM
- Country: Belgium
- Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment,Human Interest / Brights / Odd News
- Reuters ID: LVA0056U9Q0YH
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Hundreds of people gathered on a town square in the eastern Belgian city of Malmedy on Tuesday (August 15) to feast on a traditional giant omelette made annually for the past 22 years by the "The World Fraternity of Knights of the Giant Omelette".
The egg, bacon and herb omelette was made with 10,000 eggs and cooked in a four-metre-wide pan before being served to people at the event.
President of the local branch of the giant omelette fraternity Benedicte Mathy said she was confident there would be no issues eating a plate of the omelette, despite an ongoing heath scare linked to eggs contaminated with a potentially harmful insecticide.
Millions of chicken eggs have been pulled from European supermarket shelves as a result of the scare over the use of the insecticide fipronil, and hundreds of thousands of hens may be culled in the Netherlands.
While a large amount of contaminated eggs would need to be eaten to show negative health effects, fipronil is considered moderately toxic and can cause organ damage in humans. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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