BRUSSELS WATCH: EC Cracks And Calls High Level Egg Meeting

By Tara Oakes

     BRUSSELS (MNI) - A high-level meeting on the European egg scandal has been

provisionally called for September 26, the European Commission said Friday.

     Although insisting that the meeting is not a "crisis meeting", the EC said

that current information shows that Sweden, France, the UK, Austria, Ireland,

Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Denmark, Switzerland and

Hong Kong have all received contaminated products.

     Farms in Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and France have all been

"blocked" after being associated with the use of a product containing a banned

toxic pesticide fipronil, the EC added.

     While the problems have emanated from laying farms, the EC added that

chicken meat from treated farms also needs to be checked before being put on the

market.

     EC Deputy Chief Spokesperson Mina Andreeva said that they had "no such

indication" that the problem would hit international trade at this point at this

point.

     But the scale of the issue, which involves hundreds of thousands of eggs

and now extends beyond the EU, means it will likely roll on into the weeks ahead

of the September meet.

--MNI Brussels Bureau; +44 203-865-3851; email: tara.oakes@marketnews.com

--MNI London Bureau; tel: +44 203-586-2225; email: les.commons@marketnews.com