Health assessment of individual measurements of fipronil levels detected in foods of animal origin in Belgium

Fipronil is a broad-spectrum insecticide used against fleas, lice, ticks, cockroaches, mites
and other insects.
The estimation of the German Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) was made on the
basis of a notice in the Rapid Alert System for Foods and Feeds (RASFF) according to which
increased levels of fipronil were detected in eggs and egg products in Belgium. The currently
available results of the analysis of fipronil levels range from 0.0031 to 1.2 mg per kg in chicken
eggs and from 0.0015 to 0.0156 mg per kg in chicken meat. The estimation is also based
on the general risk assessment of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) of 7 February
2006.
https://www.efsa.europa.eu/de/efsajournal/pub/65r
The health risk assessment of the fipronil residues measured in chicken eggs and chicken
meat was made on the basis of an exceedance of the Acute Reference Dose (ARfD). The
ARfD was derived from developmental toxicity studies with rats and is 0.009 mg per kg body
weight (bw). It is defined as the quantity of a substance per kilogram body weight that can be
ingested with one meal or within one day without any recognisable risk to the consumer. In
the case of fipronil, calculations were performed with the highest measured value of the levels
of fipronil in eggs (1.2 mg fipronil per kg eggs) as the worst case. On the basis of this
level and the health reference values, the BfR arrives at the conclusion that under consideration
of European consumption data, the ARfD for children is exceeded by chicken eggs. This
does not necessarily mean that the consumption of chicken eggs poses a concrete health
risk, but it indicates that, in line with the current level of available knowledge, a health risk is
possible for children with the required margin of safety after consuming these contaminated
chicken eggs.