Members of the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee urged the European Commission (EC) to strengthen the European Rapid Alert System (RASFF), which showed failures during crisis.

During a debate prompted by the scandal, in which millions of eggs were found to be contaminated with pesticide, concerns were raised about why an alert was only made in July - a month after sampling took place - and how the use of fipronil had gone undetected since last year.

Clara Aguilera, Progressive Alliance of Socialists and Democrats MEP, criticised member states for the delays in notification and said the European Union (EU) must improve information sharing on food safety.

“There is a big serious problem and there are failures in the RASFF,” she said. “States have acted late, have taken months to communicate and that has also generating internal disputes. Questions have to be raised about the operation of the system and those questions should be investigated.”

Read Full Article