Health and government agencies have confirmed that eggs in several countries have been contaminated with fipronil, an insecticide.

Millions of eggs have been destroyed and egg products removed from the shelves of supermarkets and stores. Contaminated eggs have been discovered in Belgium, the Netherlands, France and a dozen other European countries.

SGS provides analysis to identify the presence of fipronil on eggs and egg products to reassure clients, along the food supply chain, that products are free from contamination.

What is fipronil?

Fipronil is an insecticide used to control fleas, cockroaches and ants. It is the main active ingredient of many pet care products. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified fipronil as a moderately hazardous class II pesticide.

What has happened?

Fipronil has been inappropriately used on chicken farms in disinfectants and in treatments against lice. For eggs, European legislation sets the maximum residue level (MRL) for fipronil in Regulation (EC) No 396/2005 at 0.005 mg/kg. Fipronil residues have been identified that breach this MRL.

SGS fipronil analysis services?

SGS has three laboratories accredited to perform fipronil testing and analysis on eggs and egg products in Berlin (Germany), Varna (Bulgaria) and in Mersin (Turkey). In Berlin and Varna, our laboratories can determine fipronil content in eggs as low as 0.003 mg/kg - lower than the EU's MRL.

In addition, other laboratories in the SGS network can perform testing to detect fipronil in food products using GC/MS, GC/MS/MS and LC/MS/MS mass spectrometry techniques.

More details on this food contamination event will be made available in the next issue of Hot Source, SGS's newsletter for the food industry.

Find out more about SGS food contaminant testing services and your local SGS food laboratory.

For further information, please contact:

SGS Food Team
t: +41 22 739 91 11

About SGS

SGS is the world's leading inspection, verification, testing and certification company. SGS is recognized as the global benchmark for quality and integrity. With more than 90,000 employees, SGS operates a network of over 2,000 offices and laboratories around the world.

SGS SA published this content on 15 August 2017 and is solely responsible for the information contained herein.
Distributed by Public, unedited and unaltered, on 15 August 2017 09:21:05 UTC.

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