Animal Rights released a new video showing abuses on Dutch chicken farms. The video shows bald and weakened laying hens that can hardly walk. It also shows dead chickens in the stables, some in an advance state of decomposition.
This new video was filmed with hidden cameras in Flevoland, Noord-Brabant, Gelderland, Limburg and Vlaanderen, according to L1. The Limburg locations concern stables in Nederweert and Oirlo, the regional broadcaster reports.
A video surfaced showing serious abuses at duck breeding companies in the Netherlands, specifically when the animals are being caught and transported. Animal rights organizations are horrified, RTL Nieuws, who published the video, reports.
The video, made by Animal Rights last winter, shows a young duck being stomped to death, ducks being brutally crammed into crates, and being grabbed by their wings and legs. It also shows two employees throwing a young duck between each other in what seems to be a game.
Eggs from a chicken farm in Tilligte, Overijssel were found to contain toxic pesticide fiprionil. As a result of this contamination, the farmer's over 3 thousand chickens were killed or taken away. His stock of some 45 thousand eggs was also destroyed, De Gelderlander reports.
This is the second time in less than nine months that this farmer was hit by such a disaster, according to the newspaper. The first time was in mid-August last year.
Claim organization Massaclaim is intervening in the so-called fipronil crisis. The organization launched a website where affected poultry farmers can register for support in dealing with the problems resulting from millions of eggs being recalled from supermarkets because they contain too high quantities of toxic insecticide fipronil. Massaclaim's main goal is to prevent further bankruptcies in the sector, according to the organization, AD reports.
The Dutch and Belgian authorities are raiding several addresses in both countries on Thursday as part of the investigation into fipronil contamination at numerous poultry farms and their eggs. This is a joint action from the Dutch and Belgian authorities, a spokesperson for the Dutch Public Prosecutor said to the Telegraaf, though she would not say exactly where the raids are done.
Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA denies that it first learned that eggs were maybe contaminated by toxic fipronil in November last year. The authority did receive a report about fipronil in that month, but that report only stated that it had been used to clean stables - there was no reason to believe that it could end up in eggs and pose a potential health risk, inspector general Rob van Lint said on Wednesday, RTL Nieuws reports.
Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA added codes of another 14 poultry companies to its list of eggs contaminated with toxic insecticide fipronil. Foods that contain contaminated eggs are safe to eat, according to the federation of the Dutch foodstuffs industry FNLI based on its own research, NU.nl reports.
The supermarket sector suffered "fairly substantial" damages that can amount to millions of euros as a result of fipronil contaminated eggs, René Roorda, director of the central bureau of foodstuffs trading CBL said to ANP.
Agricultural organization LTO Nederland is furious that the Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA advised consumers to show restraint in eating eggs until the results of an investigation into eggs' fipronil content are in. "That is a terrible and unnecessary statement", Eric Huber, chairman of the poultry farm department, said to Radio 1 Journaal on Wednesday. "It leads to unnecessary unrest among consumers."
A number of poultry farmers are holding Barneveld company ChickFriend responsible for their production being halted and their eggs being recalled. The NVWA stopped production at some 180 poultry farms and recalled their eggs after toxic substance fipronil was found in them, ANP reports.
Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA issued a warning to consumers not to eat eggs with the company code X-NL-40155XX. The content of toxic fipronil in these eggs is so high that they pose an acute danger to public health, the NVWA said, NU.nl reports.
The Xs in the code represent numbers. The code will be stamped on the egg. The NVWA is recalling the affected eggs from the shelves, but consumers who already bought eggs with this code are advised to throw them away.
The Dutch food and consumer product safety authority NVWA halted production at dozens of egg-laying companies while they investigate whether the companies' eggs contain poisonous substance fipronil. This measure was taken as a precaution while inspectors take samples from eggs, laying hens and manure, ANP reports.
On Saturday the NVWA already halted production at seven other poultry companies. Some of the companies were ordered to recall their eggs.
Poultry farmers in the Netherlands no longer have to keep their animals caged. The bird flu risk in the Netherlands is officially gone and State Secretary Martijn van Dam of Economic Affairs decided to lift this and other measures, which have been in place for five months, RTL Nieuws reports.
Bird flu was diagnosed in sick birds on a poultry farm in Zoeterwoude, Zuid-Holland. A total of 28,500 birds on the farm were culled, as well as some 30 thousand birds on a nearby farm, RTL Nieuws reports.
The two farms are located about a kilometer fro each other. Another poultry farm is about 3 kilometers from the infected farm. Its animals are being examined for bird flu.
Bird flu was found at a poultry farm in Abbega, Friesland on Tuesday. The farm owns about 63 thousand laying hens, which will be culled as soon as can be arranged, ANP reprots
State Secretary Martijn van Dam of Economic Affairs implemented a transport ban in a 10 kilometer zone around the infected farm. No poultry eggs, manure or used poultry bedding may be transported in this area for the time being. No other poultry farms are located in the immediate vicinity of the infected farm.
A new case of avian influenza was discovered on a 22,000-hen poultry farm in Tzummarum, Friesland. The influenza is most likely a mild H7 variant, the Dutch government says.
Approximately 30,000 hens are being culled in Barneveld, Gelderland after avian influenza was detected at a poultry farm there, the government revealed in a statement. Further analysis by Central Veterinary Institute (CVI), expected to be available on Friday, will determine the severity of the flu, but for now it is suspected to be a mild H7 variant, Secretary of Economic Affairs Sharon Dijksma writes in a letter to the Tweede Kamer.
Bird flu was discovered at a poultry farm in Zoeterwoude yesterday. The Ministry of Economic Affairs confirmed that this company has about 28 thousand animals.
