Those who enjoy a breakfast of scrambled or fried eggs can rest assured that their daily helping remains safe, as the health authorities have confirmed no contaminated eggs have made their way to Malta.

A spokeswoman for the Health Ministry confirmed to the Times of Malta that despite Europe-wide concerns that eggs from Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany have been found in 15 countries, none have made their way here.

“No contaminated eggs have been imported to Malta. The Environmental Health Directorate is closely monitoring the situation through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed on a 24/7 basis. Malta has not been tagged in any of the alerts,” she said. 

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The Public Health Lab, she added, is also in contact with other accredited foreign laboratories for the analysis of local and imported eggs for the presence of a toxic pesticide.

The European Commission announced yesterday that it had called for a meeting of ministers and national agencies responsible for regulation and food safety to discuss the impact of the egg contamination scare.

Traces of the moderately toxic insecticide fipronil were found in batches of eggs. The toxin was, linked by authorities to a Dutch supplier of cleaning products, with the Commission saying contaminated eggs had been found in 15 EU countries as well as in Switzerland and Hong Kong.

While a large number of contaminated eggs would need to be eaten to affect a person’s health, fipronil is considered moderately toxic and can cause damage to the organs. It is widely used to treat pets for ticks and fleas, but its use in the food chain is not allowed.

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So far, millions of eggs have been pulled from supermarket shelves, mainly throughout central Europe.

Some national regulators are also voicing concern that many contaminated eggs may have entered the food chain already, mainly through processed products such as biscuits, cakes and salads.