The Hague — The Dutch government has acknowledged that "errors have been made" in managing the growing scandal around eggs contaminated by fipronil, but it strongly refuted allegations of negligence. "Mistakes are made in any crisis and it was absolutely also the case in this one," Dutch health minister Edith Schippers told viewers on a late night talk show Thursday on the NPO public broadcaster. But Schippers reiterated that the Dutch government could not disclose information about fipronil, an insecticide used to clean chicken pens, "because it was part of a criminal probe". The Netherlands has come under heavy fire from other European neighbours who accused the country of not timeously disclosing information about eggs tainted with fipronil, which can be harmful to humans. "We were well aware of a report of the presence of fipronil in the pens of egg-laying hens in November 2016, but there was no indication at the time that fipronil itself was found in the eggs," said Schippers, ...
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