“There was no threat to public health”, according to Herman Diricks from the Belgian Agency for Food Safety (Afsca). He gave an interview to L’Echo on Saturday, during which he also said Afsca had been the subject of a “witch-hunt” during the fipronil case.
“We took all the possible measures to get rid of contaminated eggs and ones that might have been contaminated. Our message is that that there was no threat to public health. I think that is the general consensus. Toxicologists that spoke to the press said exactly the same thing”, insists Mr Diricks.
“We have done everything we can do: we asked companies to take responsibility for tracing these products”, he said when speaking of egg-based products.
When asked about whether he thought Afsca was “the ideal scapegoat” in this case, Mr Diricks admitted there was “general frustration here. We have put systems in place, which should make everything as safe as it can be. We were criticised for being too strict, too severe. But it was us that detected the problem”.
(Source: Belga)
