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Fearless Belgian Town Cooks Giant Omelette Amid Egg Contamination Scare

Nothing stops tradition, apparently.

Nothing can stop the residents of Malmedy in Belgium sticking to their tradition of making an enormous omelette.

Not even a Europe-wide chicken egg contamination investigation, which saw millions of eggs pulled from supermarket shelves amid concerns that they had been infected by the insecticide fipronil.

According to the BBC,15 European countries, as well as Hong Kong and Switzerland, have received eggs that could be contaminated. The fipronil chemical was found on both Dutch and Belgian poultry farms and other European nations are now questioning why they weren't told sooner about the problem.

This scare and its consequent controversy however, didn't deter 10,000 eggs being cracked into a four-metre-wide pan to make the giant omelette on Tuesday.

Hope they were hungry.
Reuters Staff / Reuters
Hope they were hungry.

The 22-year-old event is run by 'The World Fraternity of Knights of the Giant Omelette,' who were founded in 1973. The president of the local branch of the fraternity, Benedicte Mathy, told Reuters that she was confident the omelette was safe to eat, regardless of the recent chicken egg contamination.

Once the food was cooked, it was handed out for free to the town's people in the name of this unique annual celebration.

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