Belgium is home to 36 million chickens and chicks, or close to four times its population. It annually exports 70 per cent of the eggs laid for a value of over 140 million euros; 20 per cent of its chickens are exported, worth almost 67 million euros (data from National Statistics Institute).

Here is an overview of measures many countries in the region took of their own in what has been dubbed the chicken crisis:

* France pulled from store shelves eggs and chickens from local farms suspected of having used the tainted feed. The move affected produce from 81 farms -- 31 in northern France and 50 in the Eure-et-Loire region southwest of Paris. France imports about 40,600 tonnes of chicken and 31,200 tonnes of products containing eggs fromBelgium every year.

* The Netherlands said shops should remove chickens and eggs from selected Belgian farms and the public was told not to eat Belgian poultry produce. Parliamentarians demanded the government explain why, when it was told by Belgium of the dioxin finds in late April, it only warned shops this week.

* Portugal withdrew a small quantity of Belgian chicken products from the market. Under-secretary for agriculture and food quality, Luis Vieira, said on state television that the products were not part of contaminated lots.

* Denmark's veterinary authorities launched a massive information campaign and tightened controls on egg and chicken imports from Belgium including food products containing egg and chicken ingredients.

* Spain said shipments of chicken or chicken products from Belgium were being seized to eliminate health risks. A batch of 140 exotic ducks imported from Belgium were quarantined to see if they were contaminated with dioxin. * Russia considered extending a ban on poultrymeat imports from Belgium, if it finds the farms used feed containing dioxin.

* Bulgaria suspended sales and imports of Belgian chicken products.

* Slovenia said it would not allow imports of chicken meat,chicken meat products or eggs from Belgium.

* Poland on Monday suspended imports of Belgian chickens,meat and eggs.