The East Java administration, academics and poultry farmers have joined forces to defend the quality of locally produced eggs following a damning report on plastic contamination in two East Java villages.

Two weeks ago, the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN), the Indonesia-based Nexus3 and several other environmental groups released a joint report suggesting the practice of burning imported plastic waste had contaminated the food chain in Tropodo village of Sidoarjo regency and Bangun village in Mojokerto regency.

Free-range egg samples collected in the villages were found to contain extremely hazardous banned chemicals, including dioxins and flame retardants.

East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa swiftly dismissed the report and in an apparent publicity, stunt served boiled eggs during her meeting with provincial councillors on Friday.

Following suit, East Java officials, academics and poultry farmers showed their confidence in the quality of local eggs by eating them together during a press conference at Brawijaya University’s School of Animal Science in Malang on Sunday.

The chairman of the National Breeders Association, Rofi Yasifun, said that although the study only focused on free-range chicken eggs, it had affected the price of chicken eggs in general.

“Due to the issue [dioxin contamination], prices plunged by between Rp 500 [3 US cents] and Rp 1,000 to per kilogram,” he said.

Also at the event, Iswahyudi of the East Java Husbandry Agency argued that most eggs sold at markets were healthy and produced through good farming practices.

“The samples were taken from free-range chickens — and there were just three eggs — that is a small sample size for research,” he said.

Iswahyudi added that local free-range chicken eggs accounted for just 3.7 percent of the roughly 8.2 billion eggs produced in East Java last year.

He called on all stakeholders, especially academics, to conduct further research into dioxin levels in chicken eggs in general.

“To make sure eggs are safe to consume, dioxin levels have to be monitored to ensure they do not exceed the allowed standard,” he said.

The head of Brawijaya University’s animal science master’s program, Irfan H. Djunaidi, concurred with Iswahyudi, arguing the research did not reflect the quality of East Java’s eggs in general.

“We will conduct further research into the issue,” Irfan said.

Responding to the statements, environmental watchdog Nexus3 cofounder Yuyun Ismawati said telling people to eat eggs from large chicken farms “will not solve the toxic contamination in eggs” from Tropodo and Bangun villages.

Imported plastic and other hazardous waste has inundated the villages since last year when China closed its doors to the imports of 24 types of waste. Every day, the villages receive more than 50 tons of low-grade plastic.

Residents of Tropodo have been using plastic waste as a fuel source for local tofu factories, while Bangun residents burn the plastic simply to get rid of the waste piling up around their houses.

“The government [...] needs to set and enforce a standard and also regulate imports of plastic and paper waste. It also has to penalize importers who violate their permits and dump waste in villages,” Yuyun said on Monday.

She also defended the study’s small sample size, saying the environmental groups conducted a preliminary survey that required samples with a high level of confidence. Yuyun also said they were hindered by the high costs of analyzing the eggs in laboratories in Austria and Germany.

“Indonesia has not conducted monitoring of organic pollutants because of a lack of capacity and supporting infrastructure such as laboratories, despite the obligation under the Stockholm Convention to monitor such pollutants in the food chain and human biomarkers,” Yuyun said.

Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar wrote on her official Twitter account @SitiNurbayaLHK on Monday that said had requested experts to conduct further research in both villages.

The minister conceded the imported plastic waste had long been used to fuel tofu factory burners, as it was a cheap source of fuel. She added that the government “will prepare measures to solve the issues of waste as well as the impacts on residents”.

“During a recent visit to the villages, a team from the ministry found the piles of plastic waste had decreased since July. I believe [the amount of waste] is decreasing thanks to the government’s effort to reexport the waste, revise the regulation and ramp up monitoring,” Siti wrote on Twitter.

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