News & Updates

Update on Fipronil in eggs

Food Standards Scotland continues to liaise with the Food Standards Agency regarding the ongoing investigation into foods which may contain egg from farms in the Netherlands, which illegally used Fipronil to treat egg-laying hens. Fipronil in the low doses we are seeing in affected eggs poses no risk to health, but it shouldn’t be there, as it’s not authorised for use in food-producing animals.

This investigation has now found that a small amount of liquid eggs from implicated farms was received by food businesses in Scotland who took immediate action to remove the products from sale. Most of the additional egg products identified so far were imported into the UK in a liquid or powdered form so it is no longer practicable to provide a figure in terms of whole eggs. It  remains the case that it is very unlikely there is any risk to public health from eating these foods, and the decision to withdraw these products is not due to food safety.

There is no evidence that eggs laid in the UK are contaminated, so there is no need for people in Scotland to stop buying or eating whole eggs from shops.  Testing of eggs on farms continues in Scotland and results to date have been negative.

We have attached the updated product withdrawal list showing the full list of products we have identified to date, and will continue to update this if necessary as the investigation continues.