S’pore Halts Quail Egg Imports From M’sia Farm Providing 20% Of Supply Due To Drug Residue Found

Fun fact: Did you know that quail eggs are widely used in Japanese cuisine? They can found in anything from uzura tamago, yakitori to bentos.

Singapore Halts Quail Egg Imports From Malaysian Farm

Unfortunately, quail egg supplies and Japanese restaurants in Singapore are about to take a big hit after Singapore suspended the import of fresh quail eggs from a Malaysian farm.

Sounds like the problem isn’t too bad right? I mean, we can always import from other farms… right?

Wrong.

The Malaysian farm, called Telic Farm, had previously provided 20% of Singapore’s quail egg supply.

The reason? A “drug residue” was found on the product.

Yes, I’m about as shocked as you are.

I mean, I’m well aware that most of our food contains tons of nasties like hormones and the occasional worm or bug, but drugs?

Drug That Functions As Oral Contraceptive For Birds Found In Quail Eggs 

The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) told CNA that it suspended imports from Telic Farm in Malaysia as ‘nicarbazin’ a drug that is used as an oral contraceptive for birds was found in quail eggs last month.

Nicarbazin is also used to prevent parasitic diseases in poultry. SFA announced the suspension on their website on Monday.

SFA said, “The suspension will be in place until SFA has verified that the farm has measures in place to ensure that their eggs do not contain drug residues and are safe for human consumption.”

Singapore’s Quail Egg Imports

I know what you’re thinking: why not just import from other farms or countries? That’s exactly what Singapore does.

We get both fresh and processed quail eggs from Malaysia, China, Taiwan and Vietnam. Some are also locally produced.

In 2018, Telic Farm exported around 17 million fresh quail eggs to Singapore. This made up about 20% of Singapore’s overall quail egg supply.

If all else fails, I think we can just switch to regular chicken eggs in the meanwhile. It’s definitely better than ingesting drug-laced quail eggs.