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You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/aug/11/panic-contaminated-eggs-britain-food-safer
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| Don’t get too egg-cited about the contamination scandal – our food is safe | Don’t get too egg-cited about the contamination scandal – our food is safe |
| (10 days later) | |
| And so here we are again. Another egg scandal. This time it’s not salmonella, nor is it even the great Creme Egg debacle of 2015, when Cadbury announced that a creme egg would no longer be covered in dairy milk chocolate, but a “standard cocoa mix chocolate” and promptly lost more than £6m in sales. This is one from abroad. | And so here we are again. Another egg scandal. This time it’s not salmonella, nor is it even the great Creme Egg debacle of 2015, when Cadbury announced that a creme egg would no longer be covered in dairy milk chocolate, but a “standard cocoa mix chocolate” and promptly lost more than £6m in sales. This is one from abroad. |
| Yes, there. That place that will be forever not Britain, a place full of nasty untrustworthy foreigners who, apart from their funny languages and woeful tendency to want to come here, now seem to have been contaminating eggs with insecticide,with around 700,000 of them arriving here. An ovum fifth column designed to cause chaos and destruction while we innocently go about our business buying ready-made sandwiches and salads to eat on trains and at desks, eschewing that suspect continental idea of a proper sit-down lunch. | Yes, there. That place that will be forever not Britain, a place full of nasty untrustworthy foreigners who, apart from their funny languages and woeful tendency to want to come here, now seem to have been contaminating eggs with insecticide,with around 700,000 of them arriving here. An ovum fifth column designed to cause chaos and destruction while we innocently go about our business buying ready-made sandwiches and salads to eat on trains and at desks, eschewing that suspect continental idea of a proper sit-down lunch. |
| Fipronil is a toxic insecticide. It is a common ingredient in veterinary products for getting rid of fleas, lice and ticks but is banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption. | Fipronil is a toxic insecticide. It is a common ingredient in veterinary products for getting rid of fleas, lice and ticks but is banned from being used to treat animals destined for human consumption. |
| When consumed in large quantities it is considered “moderately hazardous”, according to the World Health Organiszation. It can be dangerous to the kidneys, liver and thyroid glands. But the Food Standards Agency says the risks are low and the decision to withdraw affected products is based on the fact that fipronil is not being authorised for use in food-producing animals, rather than safety concerns. | When consumed in large quantities it is considered “moderately hazardous”, according to the World Health Organiszation. It can be dangerous to the kidneys, liver and thyroid glands. But the Food Standards Agency says the risks are low and the decision to withdraw affected products is based on the fact that fipronil is not being authorised for use in food-producing animals, rather than safety concerns. |
| The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) calculates that an adult weighing 65kg (143lb) would be able to eat up to seven eggs within 24 hours and still be within the safe range. Because of their lower body weight, the safety threshold for children is much lower – 1.7 eggs within 24 hours for a child weighing 16.15kg (35.6lb), according to the BfR. However, as the contaminated eggs are in products such as salads and sandwich fillers, rather than raw eggs in shells being sold whole, the chances of consuming a dangerous quantity are still low. | The German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) calculates that an adult weighing 65kg (143lb) would be able to eat up to seven eggs within 24 hours and still be within the safe range. Because of their lower body weight, the safety threshold for children is much lower – 1.7 eggs within 24 hours for a child weighing 16.15kg (35.6lb), according to the BfR. However, as the contaminated eggs are in products such as salads and sandwich fillers, rather than raw eggs in shells being sold whole, the chances of consuming a dangerous quantity are still low. |
| That Great British right to a cheap meal deal of tasteless, industrially produced bread with a meagre filling wrapped in a combination of plastic and cardboard, accompanied by foil-encased, deep-fried potato slices that are sprayed with a mixture of chemicals to taste like roast meat or processed cheese, is under threat. Such has been the scandal that we are now faced with an awful choice of cheese or ham instead of egg or egg and cress, and all because of misbehaving foreigners. | That Great British right to a cheap meal deal of tasteless, industrially produced bread with a meagre filling wrapped in a combination of plastic and cardboard, accompanied by foil-encased, deep-fried potato slices that are sprayed with a mixture of chemicals to taste like roast meat or processed cheese, is under threat. Such has been the scandal that we are now faced with an awful choice of cheese or ham instead of egg or egg and cress, and all because of misbehaving foreigners. |
| You can almost hear Nigel Farage frothing at the mouth into the next available microphone declaring that we need British eggs for British sandwiches, shouting how this is another example of us being attacked and discriminated against by Brussels. | You can almost hear Nigel Farage frothing at the mouth into the next available microphone declaring that we need British eggs for British sandwiches, shouting how this is another example of us being attacked and discriminated against by Brussels. |
| The food morality police are lining up to preach about how our broken food system doing untold harm to our health | The food morality police are lining up to preach about how our broken food system doing untold harm to our health |
| The food morality police meanwhile are lining up to preach to us about how this is another example of our broken food system doing untold harm to our health, and that what is needed is a diet of purely locally sourced organic food, freshly made at home. In fact, they suggest, what we should really do is abandon supermarkets altogether in favour of self-sufficiency. So before your 100-mile commute on crowded roads, or your two-hour train journey with your nose jammed up against someone’s armpit, travelling from the only place bigger than a cardboard box that you can afford to live in to the only available job, you should be out in your allotment, picking vegetables for your lunchbox before the slugs get them, hoping against hope that one of your two hens has laid a minuscule egg while you milk the scrawny cow you bought after you ripped up the mono-block in favour of a patch of mud, avoiding getting its dung on your work dress. | The food morality police meanwhile are lining up to preach to us about how this is another example of our broken food system doing untold harm to our health, and that what is needed is a diet of purely locally sourced organic food, freshly made at home. In fact, they suggest, what we should really do is abandon supermarkets altogether in favour of self-sufficiency. So before your 100-mile commute on crowded roads, or your two-hour train journey with your nose jammed up against someone’s armpit, travelling from the only place bigger than a cardboard box that you can afford to live in to the only available job, you should be out in your allotment, picking vegetables for your lunchbox before the slugs get them, hoping against hope that one of your two hens has laid a minuscule egg while you milk the scrawny cow you bought after you ripped up the mono-block in favour of a patch of mud, avoiding getting its dung on your work dress. |
| The thing is though, food has always been an international business. The idea of purely homegrown food is the rose-tinted fantasy of people happy living on kale and oats. Christopher Columbus only went to America to try and get spices more quickly for the Spanish court. In the end various hapless men had to stand in front of irritated Spanish royalty waving cocoa beans, tomatoes and potatoes, promising that their value would surpass even cinnamon and mustard seeds. | The thing is though, food has always been an international business. The idea of purely homegrown food is the rose-tinted fantasy of people happy living on kale and oats. Christopher Columbus only went to America to try and get spices more quickly for the Spanish court. In the end various hapless men had to stand in front of irritated Spanish royalty waving cocoa beans, tomatoes and potatoes, promising that their value would surpass even cinnamon and mustard seeds. |
| And as long as there is food supply from anywhere beyond your own back garden, fraud has been committed. Whether it’s watery milk, chalky flour, hollowed out loaves or fresh fish on the market stall – all glistening as if two fisherwomen had had an impromptu water fight – the food suppliers of the world have been cutting corners, selling old as new and replacing top-quality ingredients with lesser cheaper ones. | And as long as there is food supply from anywhere beyond your own back garden, fraud has been committed. Whether it’s watery milk, chalky flour, hollowed out loaves or fresh fish on the market stall – all glistening as if two fisherwomen had had an impromptu water fight – the food suppliers of the world have been cutting corners, selling old as new and replacing top-quality ingredients with lesser cheaper ones. |
| The difference is that nowadays we have much tighter regulations that need to be followed. People caught not following them can have their businesses closed down or be sent to jail. In the case of the contaminated eggs, two men have already been arrested. Tests are regularly carried out on our foodstuffs to make sure they meet standards in ways that would have been inconceivable centuries ago, and our health is better for it. | The difference is that nowadays we have much tighter regulations that need to be followed. People caught not following them can have their businesses closed down or be sent to jail. In the case of the contaminated eggs, two men have already been arrested. Tests are regularly carried out on our foodstuffs to make sure they meet standards in ways that would have been inconceivable centuries ago, and our health is better for it. |
| Meanwhile, if you are worried about eggs? Try the ham, it’s there all week. | Meanwhile, if you are worried about eggs? Try the ham, it’s there all week. |
| What to eat if you have gone off eggs | What to eat if you have gone off eggs |
| French scientist Hervé This, despite not being British, developed a very clever way to make chocolate mousse without using eggs at all. Here is Heston Blumenthal showing you how. And you can thank the Spanish for bringing back the cocoa bean from the Americas. | French scientist Hervé This, despite not being British, developed a very clever way to make chocolate mousse without using eggs at all. Here is Heston Blumenthal showing you how. And you can thank the Spanish for bringing back the cocoa bean from the Americas. |
| • Rachel McCormack is a food writer and panellist on Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet. | • Rachel McCormack is a food writer and panellist on Radio 4’s The Kitchen Cabinet. |
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