Recently, pesticides found in eggs is becoming an issue. Many eggs from most regions in Korea have components of pesticides in them. So, many people are worried about eating eggs. Eggs from 52 farms turned out not meeting the standards set by the government. 31 farms of these farms were know as environmentally friendly farms, so many people were surprised. Also, because of this problem, the price of eggs declined by 16.4 percent. Although the government disposed the eggs with pesticides, they were found again. A farm that these eggs are from weren’t included in  the 52 farms that had the eggs with pesticides. The government is being blamed by many people for its poor ability to manage the safety concerns.

The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, “It won’t hurt people to eat eggs with pesticides, because the eggs have at most 8.54 percent of the safety limit and it  is not dangerous for people to eat dozens of eggs every day.” Also, a family medicine practitioner said, “The pesticides’ components in the eggs are usually fipronil, bifenthrin, etoxazole, pyridaben, flufenoxuron. Symptoms due to these substances are sweating, headache, stomach ache, and giddiness. But, they are usually excreted within a week, so people usually don’t experience these symptoms.” However, the Korean Medical Association said, “The eggs with pesticides aren’t harmful to our body, but we shouldn’t eat them too much.”

The pesticides even affected chickens. In 2 farms, chickens had DDT, a poisonous substance, in them. The tolerance limit for DDT is 0.3mg per 1kg for meat, but the chickens of these 2 farms had more than 0.4mg per 1kg. People who own farms that made the eggs with pesticides lessened their chickens’ feed to make the pesticides be excreted, but this usually doesn’t have an effect in one farm, so the pesticides in the eggs increased. A veterinarian expert said that lessening chickens’ feed doesn’t help chickens excrete the pesticides. Though the chickens which lay eggs and which are raised as food are separated, we should be careful of eating not only eggs, but also chicken.

2017.9.13

Jang Hoyeon