Egg producers in Belgium's Flanders region lost at least 10 million euros ($11.7 million), the RTL broadcaster reported, citing data of the Belgian farmers association Boerenbond.
Farmers from the Wallonia region also suffered losses worth hundreds of millions of euros.
Afsca had revealed that the content of the pesticide in a sample taken from one of the 86 producers it had blocked over the scandal exceeds the European safety threshold. The results came in the second test, while the first analysis had not found any violations of EU norms.
Last Friday, media reported that Aldi and Lidl supermarkets in Germany recalled millions of eggs from shelves over fears that they might have been contaminated with fipronil. The move followed the decision of the Netherlands’ product safety authority (NVWA), which had blocked the supplies of eggs from 180 farms due to the scandal.
Fipronil is used to treat lice, fleas and ticks. In large quantities the insecticide can cause liver, kidney and thyroid gland damage.
