A Belgian town has honoured its 22-year-old tradition of making a giant omelette despite an egg contamination scare, cooking 10,000 eggs in a pan four metres wide.
Members of a giant omelette fraternity create a 10,000-egg dish in a 4m-wide frying pan in the Belgian town of Malmedy on Tuesday. Photo: AFP
Millions of chicken eggs have been pulled from European supermarket shelves as a result of the scare over the use of the insecticide fipronil, which is used to kill lice. It is forbidden in the food chain and can cause organ damage in humans.
Traces of fipronil have been found in eggs in 18 countries, though food safety officials say the traces are too tiny to harm people.
Children help make the giant omelette. Photo: AFP
The hundreds of people that gathered in the eastern Belgian city of Malmedy for Tuesday's cook-up were undeterred by the scare.
The president of the local branch of the giant omelette fraternity, Benedicte Mathy, said she was confident the dish was safe to eat.
Under mild sunshine, and with music playing, the crowd tucked into the omelette - cooked over an open fire by the World Fraternity of Knights of the Giant Omelette, which was created in 1973. As part of the annual tradition, portions are handed out free to members of the public.
The tradition has spread to Bessières and Fréjus in France, Dumbea in New Caledonia, Abbeville in the US state of Louisiana, Granby in Canada and Pigüé in Argentina, as well as Malmedy.
Fipronil, meanwhile, got into the food chain in the Netherlands, which is one of Europe's biggest egg producers, but contaminated eggs have travelled as far as Hong Kong.
Millions of eggs have been destroyed, suspect batches removed from supermarket shelves, and the cost to producers and retailers is estimated at €150 million so far.
Two Dutch suspects are in police custody. Some 180 poultry farms have been temporarily shut.
- Reuters / BBC
