NVWA warns: eggs from backyard chickens may not be safe—what’s going on?

It’s my dream to one day have a few chickens roaming around my garden. I imagine walking over to them every morning, a wicker basket hanging from my arm, to collect fresh eggs. Now it turns out that image is slightly less romantic than I thought. At least, if we follow the advice of the Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA). The food watchdog is warning against eating eggs from backyard chickens. They may contain high levels of PFAS.

PFAS is a much-discussed subject, including here at FavorFlav. The National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) previously indicated that we are taking in too much of this unhealthy substance. It is found in fast-food packaging, on non-stick pans and even in fruit and vegetables. Can we now no longer eat eggs from our own clucking friends either? The backyard-chicken-PFAS story came up again last night on the daily talk show Renze.

Alternate with supermarket eggs

The NVWA conducted a risk assessment of PFAS in eggs. The assessment ‘shows that Dutch backyard-chicken eggs can contain high concentrations of PFAS’, NU.nl reports. This conclusion had also been drawn from earlier investigations by NRC and NOS, conducted in cooperation with various Dutch municipalities. The NVWA has therefore issued some advice: we should alternate eating backyard-chicken eggs with supermarket eggs. The NVWA has not found high PFAS levels in commercially available eggs.

PFAS in backyard-chicken eggs

But here’s a critical question: does this suggest that supermarket eggs are better than eggs from your own chickens? It is still not entirely clear how PFAS ends up in backyard-chicken eggs. The Netherlands Nutrition Centre does offer a possible explanation on its website. It states that ”chickens like to scratch around and regularly peck at the ground in search of food. As a result, they also ingest soil. If soil is contaminated with small amounts of PFAS, these substances can also end up in the egg.” Earlier research commissioned by the GGD ZHZ also found that worms chickens pick from the soil themselves appear to be a likely source.

Unfair trading practices

The chicken-and-egg issue has been making headlines for a while now. No, not necessarily because of the question of which came first. Rather, because of battery-cage eggs and unfair trading practices. The sale of battery-cage eggs has long been banned in Dutch supermarkets. According to Jeroen van Maanen, a board member of the Dutch Dairy Farmers’ Union, the battery cages we no longer wanted here in the Netherlands were transported to Ukraine. That country, which is outside the EU, has benefited from tariff-free trade liberalization since June 2022, mainly because of the war there. As a result, we import poultry and eggs from Ukraine on a massive scale. The consequence? 80% of our processed eggs come from Ukrainian battery-cage farms. So they end up in cookies, cake, pasta and pizza. But this also creates unfair trading practices for European farmers.

They do have to comply with strict poultry regulations, while agricultural products from outside the EU do not. You cannot compete with that. Angry farmers therefore already staged mass protests in Brussels. Fortunately, the EU is tightening its export rules for Ukrainian poultry and eggs. From 1 June 2024, Ukraine may continue to benefit from tariff-free trade liberalization for another year, except where eggs, poultry and sugar are concerned. It must pay duties on these products unless it stays within the permitted quantities.

Bottom line: Kipster eggs

In any case, we always check the packaging of products containing processed eggs. If it clearly states that they contain barn or free-range eggs, you can trust that they are fine. And eggs themselves? We simply buy those at the supermarket too—especially while our farm-with-chickens dream has yet to come true. Our favorite is to buy Kipster eggs from Lidl. Kipster chickens have a wonderfully good life (read: lots of space to roam, including play equipment!). Now that’s what I call a happy egg.

Read also:

• Weird eggs: can you actually eat them?
• Why you should eat white eggs
• Handy: how to bring eggs to room temperature in no time

Sources: NU.nl, RTL Nieuws, Het Voedingscentrum, blckbx