Europe’s contaminated egg scare has cost Dutch poultry farmers at least 33 million euros (US$39 million), according to a preliminary estimate by the Dutch government.
The scare, triggered by the presence of the insecticide fipronil in eggs, has spread to 18 European countries and even reached Taiwan and Hong Kong.
“Direct costs to the [Dutch] poultry sector where fipronil was used are estimated at 33 million euros,” Dutch Minister of Health, Welfare and Sport Edith Schippers and Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Martijn van Dam said in a letter to parliament.
“Of this, 16 million euros is as a result of the subsequent ban, while 17 million euros derives from measures to rid farms of fipronil contamination,” the ministers said.
Poultry farms on average suffered initial damages of between 120,000 euros to 200,000 euros, the ministers said.
Their findings are based on an investigation by Wageningen University’s Economic Research Unit.
The estimate does not include non-farmers in the poultry sector, nor does it take into account further losses in production by farms.
Wednesday’s letter also said investigators from the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority found that Chickfriend, the company that allegedly cleaned chicken pens with fipronil, used a second toxic substance called amitraz.
The insecticide, a mildly toxic chemical used to kill flies, was found to have been used on a single cattle farm that also held chickens, but was not found in the farm’s poultry section, the letter said.
“The slaughter of calves at the farm has been suspended until the outcome of the amitraz investigation,” it added.
Two owners of Chickfriend briefly appeared in court in connection with the case last week and remain in custody. Lawmakers were due yesterday to debate the fallout from the crisis.
Earlier this month, a Dutch farming federation estimated total damages to be at least 150 million euros.
The Dutch Farmers and Gardeners’ Federation on Wednesday wrote a letter to Van Dam, saying farmers urgently needed assistance as they were facing financial ruin.
“The consequences for the affected businesses are huge,” federation chairman Eric Hubers said in a letter that was sent to reporters.
The businesses “are being hit by high costs and face bankruptcy if they get no financial support,” said Hubers, whose federation represents about 50,000 farmers across all sectors.
Commonly used to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks from animals, fipronil is banned by the EU from use in the food industry. The issue has sparked a row between Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, the three countries at the center of the crisis, about how long officials knew about the problem.
Belgium became the first country to officially notify the EU Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed on July 20, followed by the Netherlands and Germany, but the news did not go public until Aug. 1.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last