Fipronil egg scandal hits pubs
Braehead Foods, Richard Wellocks & Sons, Foodspeed and SFD supply the pub trade and products from the three companies appear on the Food Standards Agency's (FSA) list of products to withdraw.
Products on the FSA withdrawal list:
Foodspeed• Lot 291, Cocovite 2 kg Liquid Egg Yolk cartons – use by 21/08/17
• Lot 283, Cocovite 10 kg Liquid Whole Egg cartons – use by 04/10/17
• Lot 285, Cocovite 1 kg Liquid Whole Egg cartons – use by 18/08/17
• Lot 292, Cocovite 1 kg Liquid Egg Yolk cartons – use by 10/10/17
• Lot 275, Cocovite 1 kg Liquid Egg White cartons – use by 29/09/17
• Lot 264, Cocovite 1 kg Liquid Egg White cartons – use by 21/09/17
Richard Wellocks & Sons Ltd
• Lot 285, Cocovite Liquid Egg Yolk 1 kg cartons - Use by date 06/10/2017
SFD (GB) Limited • Lot 255, Cocovite Liquid Whole Egg 1kg – Use by date 15/09/17
Braehead Foods Ltd• Cocovite Egg Yolk Pasteurised 1 kg - use by dates 09/10/17 and 10/10/17
• Cocovite Egg White Pasteurised 1 kg - use by dates 09/10/17 and 10/10/17
• Cocovite Whole Liquid Egg 1 kg carton – use by dates 09/10/17 and 10/10/1
On its website Wellocks names the top pub businesses it supplies as gastropubs the Kingham Plough, Chipping Norton, Oxford, and the Freemasons at Wiswell, Clitheroe in Lancashire.
Freemasons chef-patron Steven Smith said: “It is something that I will be having words with them about to make sure all the products are fine.”
Rise in contaminated eggs
Earlier this month (August), operators were urged to check the source of their eggs as the number believed to have been contaminated with Fipronil rose considerably from an estimated 21,000 to 700,000, a 3,233% increase.
The FSA claimed it was unlikely eggs contaminated with the pesticide pose a risk to public health.
FSA chairman Heather Hancock said: “Our advice remains clear – there’s no need to change how you buy eggs.
“We are responding very quickly to any new information, to ensure that any products left that contain egg from the affected farms are withdrawn immediately.
“We’re doing this because Fipronil is not authorised for use in food producing animals, not because we are concerned about any risk to health."
No reason for concern
Independent committee on toxicity chair Alan Boobis echoed the FSA's comments and stressed that consumers should not be worried.
He said: “Even at the highest level found, consumption of one or two meals containing these eggs in a day would not pose a danger.
“It is very unlikely that anyone in the UK would have been exposed to anything close to this, and there is no reason for consumers to be concerned.”
The Morning Advertiser contacted Braehead Foods, which declined to comment, Richard Wellocks & Sons, Foodspeed and SFD were also contacted but they were unavailable at the time of publishing this article.
