Belgium's Malmedy makes giant omelet despite egg scare

Hundreds of local residents gathered in the eastern Belgian city of Malmedy to cook a giant omelet despite the egg scandal about insecticide contamination.

Organized by "The World Fraternity of Knights of the Giant Omelet," which was created in 1973, the annual event draws together the entire community of Malmedy, which is located about 24 kilometers (15 miles) west of the German border.

Cooks and volunteers prepared the massive egg dish using a pan measuring 4 meters (13 feet) in diameter. About a thousand people were estimated to be in attendance.

Read - Fipronil: What is it - and how did it get into our eggs?

Fipronil scare continues

The president of the local branch of the giant omelet fraternity, Benedicte Mathy, said she was confident the dish was safe to eat.

The thousands of eggs used for the omelet had been tested as being free of the insecticide fipronil, which has been making headlines throughout Europe. Belgium is one of more than a dozen countries where eggs contaminated with fipronil have reportedly been distributed.

Millions of chicken eggs have been pulled from European supermarket shelves as a result of the health scare over the use of fipronil, which is forbidden in the food chain and can cause organ damage in humans.

Later on the same day, seven Belgian hatcheries were shut down after they were found to have eggs contaminated with fipronil, according to regulator AFSCA.

ss/jm (AP, Reuters, dpa)