Germany pulls 73,000 contaminated eggs

Six German states have been told to pull 73,000 eggs from sale after residue was detected from an insecticide called fipronil.

Germany pulls 73,000 contaminated eggs Source: Ulrich Baumgarten (Getty Images)

Some 73,000 eggs due to be sold across six German states are contaminated with the insecticide fipronil, with reports that some eggs have already been sold, the Agriculture Ministry in the state of Lower Saxony says.

The new contaminated batch of eggs from the Netherlands landed on supermarket shelves in Lower Saxony, Baden-Wuerttemberg, Hesse, Bavaria, Schleswig-Holstein and North Rhine Westphalia, the ministry said.

A recall of the eggs has been initiated.

According to authorities, there is no current health risk for consumers, however, the exact locations of the supermarkets where the eggs were delivered are unknown.

Eggs being destroyed at a farm in Onstwedde, the Netherlands, after it was discovered they contain toxic levels of the pesticide Fipronil, 03 August 2017. Source: AAP

The news comes less than a year after it became public that fipronil, a toxic anti-lice agent banned from use in products for human consumption, had found its way into millions of eggs, causing a huge fallout for Dutch authorities.

A total of 97,200 eggs were delivered between May 17 and June 4 from the Netherlands to a packing centre in the district of Vechta in Lower Saxony.

The scope and cause of the contamination remained unclear, but a request for further information has been sent to the Netherlands.