poultry farm

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. 

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 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.

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."

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. 

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 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.

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.