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Taiwan's FDA probes six new farms for dioxin-tainted eggs

Food and Drug Administration in Taiwan investigates six other farms for potential dioxin laced eggs

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A member of New Taipei City Government Department of Health checks progress of dioxin eggs being taken off vendor shelves.

A member of New Taipei City Government Department of Health checks progress of dioxin eggs being taken off vendor shelves. (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News)—Taiwan's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is investigating six more farms for eggs contaminated with the carcinogen dioxin, bringing the total number of egg farms affected to nine in the nation.

As of Saturday afternoon, 6,242 kilograms or nearly 13,500 eggs suspected of being contaminated with the toxin from 621 businesses in the local egg industry were scrapped by the FDA as a preventive measure.

Initial probes by FDA found the toxic laced eggs were from Chunghua County egg farms Junyi (駿億), Hongzhang (鴻彰) and Caiyuan (財源) that all sold their eggs to the largest egg distributor in the county Wangong (王功蛋行).

However, the Council of Agriculture (COA) estimated eggs supplied daily from the three Chuanghua farms at most was 60,000 eggs, amounting to only 0.25 percent of the nation's egg market.

Egg prices remained stable at NT$28.5 (US$0.92) per 600 grams as of April 22, 2017.

The egg farms were exempted from any penalties, due to their willingness to cull dioxin-contaminated eggs and collaborate with FDA in its ongoing investigations, but any distributor or vendor caught selling the poisonous eggs will be fined anywhere from NT$30,000 to NT$3 million under the Act Governing Food Safety and Sanitation (食安法).

FDA is taking samples from six other egg farms that are also Wangong egg suppliers as a preventive measure, said Hsu Chao-kai (許朝凱), deputy chief of Division of Food Safety at FDA.

The spread of dioxin-tainted eggs from Changhua County is believed to have affected at least three other egg distributors in New Taipei City, Taoyuan City, and Miaoli County, and might have already been used in 42 breakfast joints in these areas, according to an Apple Daily report.

Dioxin laced eggs from one supplier were used in school breakfasts at an unnamed junior high school for at least a week, according to a source from the Ministry of Education.

Large department stores in Taiwan including Shinkong Mitsukoshi (新光三越) and Pacific Sogo have stopped selling eggs at their supermarkets in response to the dioxin egg scandal.

The cause of dioxin contamination in eggs might have originated from the chicken feed at farms since the eggs were not from free-range chickens that are at higher risk of being exposed to environmental toxins, analyzed Liao Pao-Chi, Distinguished Professor at Department of Environmental and Occupational Health Medical College, National Cheng Kung University.

Long-term exposure of dioxin can cause cancer in the human body because it is hard to metabolize and breakdown, and can have a half-life of three to 10 years within the human body, added Liao.