Govt failed in Dutch egg scandal

THE HAGUE - Poultry farmers, the Dutch food safety board and the government all failed in their duties during a tainted egg scandal which spread to 45 countries causing millions in damage, a scathing report found on Monday.

Millions of eggs had to be pulled from supermarket shelves and destroyed across Europe and hundreds of poultry farms were closed after an insecticide called fipronil was revealed to have been found in Dutch eggs late in July.

But the independent report said there were already indications of fipronil contamination as early as November 2016 which should have been acted on by the food safety authority NVWA.