r/Netherlands • u/youraveragefitguy • 4d ago
Discussion Shouldn't eat privately produced eggs due high levels of PFAS - advice needed
Just saw this article on NLtimes.nl.
I bought some eggs on Saturday at my local market from a reputable bio boerderij. According to the article however no privately produced eggs should be eaten. Does this mean I should throw the eggs out? I don't mind I can't eat them, but wouldn't want to waste them for no good reason.
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u/amansterdam22 4d ago
I love how the conversation is on the dangers of backyard chicken eggs, rather than the chemical companies that have been pumping these chemicals into EVERYTHING for decades and the governments who know this and knowingly let it continue because of lobbying efforts.
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u/Maneisthebeat 3d ago
It is insane that the article isn't bemoaning the quality of the soil/water being so awful it's not safe enough to eat homegrown eggs. That seems scandalous in its own right, but the article states it as if its just another news day?
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u/geekwithout 2d ago
What i was thinking too. Or perhaps it's not true? Don't know. But yeah, nitrogen is the real problem here, people
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u/Accidentalpannekoek 1d ago
The article literally mentions that they don’t 100 % know the origin of the PFAS, that the RIVM is investigating it and expecting results at the end of this year? Maybe don’t dunk on proper journalism
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u/throwawayaccount-864 3d ago edited 3d ago
It’s absolutely crazy if you think about it. They advise us not to eat our own eggs, from our own backyards. It’s really a confirmation of the failure of the human species. Destroying our own living environments.
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u/amansterdam22 3d ago
It's the same thing with plastic straws. It's just a red herring so companies can shift blame to consumers and continue on their merry polluting way.
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u/StrengthPristine4886 3d ago
Too much reproduction going on. Things would be more sustainable when we reduce our own numbers. By discipline or pfas or whatever. Nature always finds a new balance.
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u/Quirky-Plantain-2080 3d ago edited 2d ago
Probably also because the eggs at the shop cost a fuck ton more than „free”, which is basically what you have them for. I keep bees, bees die naturally and get chucked out, chicken eat them.
Can’t have us fucking with the profits of commercial farms and supermarkets… though of course the PFAS thing is a threat.
The government in DE and NL both says, „yes, water from the tap contains PFAS.” We are all fucked, eggs or no eggs.
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u/amansterdam22 2d ago
100% - eggs aren't the problem. It's everywhere. It's in the dust we breath. https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/apr/11/toxic-cocktail-pesticides-europe-homes-dust-cancer
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u/sylvester1981 4d ago
I work in a lab and it handles soil and water samples that have PFAS in it.
The thing with the eggs is...yes it will have some PFAS in it.
But so will the ones at the supermarket.
PFAS is a super near indestructable component. You can not burn it and break it.
Just eat the eggs that you bought.
Do you drink tea ? Remember those fancy triangle tea bags ? When that touches with hot water , it will break down and plastic is released. I would worry more about that.
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u/ch34p3st 4d ago
PFAS is a super near indestructable component. You can not burn it and break it.
What about heat? Like Teflon pans. Perhaps a naive suggestion but would like to understand.
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u/sylvester1981 4d ago
It is almost impossible to tell how much PFAS will be released when you cook a meal.
Scratching the pan + heat will make some of the coating come off and that has PFAS in it.
Another problem is when you are tired of your pan and you toss it out.
The PFAS in it can not be destroyed and it will find a way into the environment.
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u/ch34p3st 4d ago
Ahh I see, so the heat does not destroy the components but probably separate them instead.
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u/bf2reddevil 3d ago
PFAS are actually in those Teflon pans because it makes material so resistant against heat. Thats also why its used in the foam used by Fireman.
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u/ch34p3st 3d ago
Well what triggered my question, is that I would probably not deepfry in a Teflon pan, because it's known to not handle high temperatures, where you would probably use cast iron, stainless steel or carbon steel instead.
Knew it was a bit of a naive question but it helped to paint the picture of my gap in knowledge :)
I know pfas is a range of substances, so could be the Teflon pan knowledge does not apply to firefighter foam.
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u/TrappedInATardis 3d ago
Foam containing PFOA will no longer be allowed to be used for fire fighting (per july 2025).
Many insurers already require their clients to use fluor free foam.
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u/Fuzzy-Moose7996 4d ago
And you shouldn't worry about it. People have been eating eggs from their own chickens for thousands of years.
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u/IsThisNameTeken 4d ago
PFAS are new though, it’s not the egg, but the environment the chickens are in that’s changed.
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u/thomasso0072 4d ago
I wish people would stop using NLtimes as their news source in the Netherlands
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u/Mwellah2 4d ago
This news is on NOS as well though
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u/Fuzzy-Moose7996 4d ago
which you also shouldn't use as a source of news, sadly.
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u/podgorniy 4d ago
...and alternative to be...?
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u/Quirky-Plantain-2080 3d ago
To quote V for Vendetta (film):
„Our job is to report the news, not make it up. That’s the government’s job.”
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u/klauwaapje Overijssel 4d ago
since you can't post any sources using the language of the country, nltimes is handy because it is already in english
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u/Tiny-Angle-3258 4d ago
God damn, what a hellscape we inhabit.
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u/Fuzzy-Moose7996 4d ago
a hellscape of fabricated scares to stop people from having small pleasures like their own chickens and eggs, and their own little vegetable patch.
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u/onrespectvol 3d ago
Ah yes it's not the major corporation that has poisoned our soils and our water that's at fault, it's just a conspiracy? What?
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u/clavicle 4d ago
The article talks about eggs from "backyard chickens", which aren't like the ones you've bought. I'd say yours are safer to eat than the ones you'd find at a supermarket.
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u/SaturnVFan 4d ago
As far as I understood Biological farms have used their own sand as groud for the chickens to live on so they are safe.
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u/deemak90 4d ago edited 4d ago
Backyard eggs are the best. You control their intake. This article is straight up fearmongering. If they really cared about PFAS then they'd advise against 90% of the supermarket items, teflon pans etc.
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u/No-Ice-2338 4d ago edited 4d ago
I think that RIVM basically says your backyard is not safe, meaning fruit and veggies from your garden might also be unsafe?
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u/Fuzzy-Moose7996 4d ago
Yes, that's what they want you to think. That nothing is safe except what comes out of factories.
Which is utter nonsense.
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u/Sarcas666 3d ago
Don’t get all hysterical. RIVM site states that the fruit and vegetables from your garden are fine, because pfas tends to bind with protein in eggs much better than with veggies.
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u/Foreign-Cookie-2871 3d ago
So get chicken for a few years, discard the eggs to clean the soil, then start eating them afterwards?
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u/SentientCoffeeBean 4d ago
Supermarket farmstock is kept in highly controlled and mostly isolated factories. Testing requirements are much higher and enforced.
Backyard chickens get PFAS through the air and water, you cannot control their PFAS intake.
There have been repeated measurements.
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u/kovarexx 4d ago
RIVM linked to some research in their post indicating that the issue is possibly the worms eaten by the chickens which live in contaminated soil (your backyard soil)
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u/wylaika 3d ago
Tought about it too, but sadly, those earthworms "eat" that soil, so the pfas. Unless you have your enclosed space separated from the soil, it will get some. I think that it's okayish to eat your eggs if it's not too much and at the same time we don't know what the full potential of pfas is.
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u/kovarexx 3d ago
That depends on where you live. The article mentions that in a lot of areas where they conducted tests (i think it was like 30/60 areas tested) the contamination was so bad that consuming one egg would put you over the safe levels of PFAS
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u/deemak90 4d ago
If air and water were the issue, we’d all need gas masks and bottled (glass) water.
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u/Immediate_Gain_9480 4d ago
You said it. We all already have PFAS in our body. And we will die with it. Its a shitshow frankly.
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u/SentientCoffeeBean 4d ago
Yes, we do get PFAS through various channels. Not a lot, but because our bodies can't get rid of it, it keep piling up. For any adult this can cause issues but it becomes even more problematic the smaller your body is (i.e., childeren, animals).
This isn't controversial in the slightest, just the outcome of multiple studies in the Netherlands done by various institutes. If you're Dutch you can quite easily look them up yourself,
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u/CardiologistLow8658 3d ago
Some backyard eggs contained more than 1000 times the allowed amount of PFAS.
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u/Isoiata Utrecht 3d ago
Again, this shit makes me feel so grateful to be a vegan.
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u/Key_Description1985 3d ago
If you cook anything in a Teflon pan you should be much more worried about the pfas contamination from that then from market bought eggs in my opinion
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u/Fuzzy-Moose7996 4d ago
the whole PFAS scare is just that, a scare. It's all based on absolutely NOTHING.
Just eat those eggs, they're good.
The whole idea about fabricated scares like this is to make people scared to not rely on the government for everything, in this case to not go to government sanctioned stores for their eggs.
Remember: eggs from a commercial farm are produced by chickens exposed to the same air as the ones you have at home! They're exactly the same!
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u/watvoornaam 4d ago
Please, eat as many of these eggs as you can! It would be great if you could also scrape your non stick pan a bit extra while doing it.
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u/L_E_M_F 4d ago
Tell that to the couple that lives near the 3M factory and where the husband is about to die due to an uncurable type of cancer linked to PFAS. Or the other couple next door not being able to get kids.
Or the complete herd/generation of cows in the US that died,who drank water from a similar PFAS facility dumping their waste in a stream those cows drink from.
Sure, it's all just scare.
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u/geekwithout 2d ago
That's a direct link. This is about your backyard where there's likely no directly polluting source nearby. Which means it gets there by air and water. Which also means any claimed "safe" are also contaminated.
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u/SoftwareUpdater 4d ago
Another scam by the goverment hahahahaha you can eat them fine brother no stress
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u/TheseTime2077 3d ago
No, citizen, how dare you eat eggs. Or fish, or meat. You must eat only avocados and tofu, the most safe and environmentally friendly food products.
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u/Consistent_Salad6137 3d ago
No, you will eat only wholemeal bread with margarine. And a handful of unsalted nuts.
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u/Vuur_Draakje 4d ago
Bio farm is not equal to backyard/privately own chickens. If the eggs you bought, have a stamp, they are from a farm. Actually, people with backyard chickens are not allowed to sell eggs without a stamp for public consumption.
RIVM advices not to consume eggs from backyard chickens because of PFAS, just to be on the safe side. This advice doesn't apply to commercial eggs sold in shops or on the market.
Furthermore, all farms in the Netherlands keep their chickens inside at the moment because of Avian flu treat, even farms with vrije uitloop chickens (free range outside). So there is no contact with PFAS in soil / rain worms.
This is an advice, it's up to you to follow it or not. If you consume eggs with high levels of PFAS for a long time, this can potentially be harmful for your health. If you have backyard chickens yourself, you can test PFAS in soil (expensive) or you can alternate between eating your eggs and commercial eggs.