S.Korea to destroy insecticide-tainted eggs after nationwide inspection on egg farms
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E-mail Xinhua, August 16, 2017
SEOUL, Aug. 16 (Xinhua) -- South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday ordered a nationwide inspection on all egg farms to find and destroy egg products contaminated with insecticides, his office said.
Moon had a phone call with Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon earlier in the morning to instruct him to inform people of the ongoing inspection results in detail and take all necessary measures to prevent any tainted egg product from being distributed, according to the presidential Blue House.
According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, eggs at a farm in the Gyeonggi province near the capital Seoul was found late Monday to have been contaminated with fipronil, a type of insecticide to kill fleas and mites.
Among 1,239 egg farms across the country, the government completed inspections on 245 farms by Wednesday morning. Among the inspected farms, four have been found to own tainted eggs.
The Blue House, the government and the ruling Democratic Party held a trilateral meeting earlier in the day, deciding to discard all eggs tainted with pesticides regardless of the level of contamination.
Prime Minister Lee told reporters that the inspection and destruction of all contaminated eggs would be completed by Friday, according to local media reports.
Eggs, confirmed to have no pesticide contamination, would be immediately allowed to be circulated in the country.
Three major discount chain operators decided to stop the circulation of eggs from Tuesday until the government's inspection ends.
The prime minister chaired a cabinet meeting, saying the agriculture ministry and the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety should inform people of the current situations most honestly and simply.
The egg contamination, Lee said, could be controlled more easily than others as the production and distribution of eggs can be almost completely understood.
He urged the cabinet members to make all possible efforts to normalize the egg distribution at an earliest possible date and free people from unnecessary worries. Enditem
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