MALMEDY (REUTERS) - Hundreds of people gathered on a town square in the eastern Belgian city of Malmedy on Tuesday to feast on a traditional giant omelette made annually for the past 22 years by the "The World Fraternity of Knights of the Giant Omelette".

The egg, bacon and herb omelette was made with 10,000 eggs and cooked in a four-metre-wide pan before being served to people at the event.

President of the local branch of the giant omelette fraternity Benedicte Mathy said she was confident there would be no issues eating a plate of the omelette, despite an ongoing heath scare linked to eggs contaminated with a potentially harmful insecticide.

Millions of chicken eggs have been pulled from European supermarket shelves as a result of the scare over the use of the insecticide fipronil, and hundreds of thousands of hens may be culled in the Netherlands.

While a large amount of contaminated eggs would need to be eaten to show negative health effects, fipronil is considered moderately toxic and can cause organ damage in humans.