Italy Police Seize Eggs, Chickens in Insecticide Scandal

Italy's police said Wednesday that it had seized over 92,000 eggs and 26,000 chickens as part of an investigation into an insecticide scandal that has spread across Europe.

Over 250 controls of livestock, distribution or processing centers nationwide had resulted in two positive samples for the insecticide fipronil, one at a farm in the province of Viterbo, near Rome, and another at a pasta factory in Macerata in central Italy.

The cases follow the announcement Monday that the Italian health ministry had found the first traces of fipronil in the country in two eggs samples, one in Rome and the other at a distribution center in Ancona on the Adriatic coast.

Separately, a regional official said a batch of frozen omelettes supplied by a German group containing traces of fipronil had been withdrawn from sale in Milan.

Fipronil is commonly used to get rid of fleas, lice and ticks from animals but the European Union has banned its use in the food industry.

The insecticide has been discovered in eggs in 17 European countries since the scandal came to light at the start of August, and was even found as far away as Hong Kong.