Concerns about eggs contaminated by an illegal insecticide have ravaged the egg industry in Europe — despite no reports of any illnesses stemming from the controversy.
The issue, the Associated Press reports, highlights the potential consequences of food safety problems, as well as consumers' tendencies to avoid potential risks and the need for regulators to respond appropriately.
Some egg producers, particularly in the Netherlands, blamed insufficient public information campaigns and questionable comments from health officials in that country, where the AP notes that about 1 million hens and millions of unsold eggs were destroyed.
"Bad is stronger than good," Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam social psychologist Jan-Willem van Prooijen told the AP. "And that means human beings pay more attention to negative things than positive things, because negative things can harm you."
The controversy likely began when Fipronil was illegally added to a product used to spray chicken flocks against pests in numerous European Union nations.
Although the insecticide is frequently used to treat ticks and fleas in household pets, the EU banned its use in food animals. The chemical was found at poultry farms in the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and France, and tainted eggs were found in 15 EU nations as well as Switzerland and Hong Kong.
Heavy, prolonged exposure to the insecticide can cause seizures or kidney and liver damage, but experts said that small-scale exposure poses little safety risk and that the chances of consumers becoming sick from eating tainted eggs is low.
Although one test in Belgium exceeded the EU's limit, others were seven to 10 times below the legal threshold.
"Even when taken deliberately at 10,000 times the maximum amount likely to be consumed from contaminated eggs, the individuals survived with no long-term harm," Imperial College London's Alan Boobis told the AP in a statement.
