President Moon Jae-in has called for "radical" measures to reform South Korea's livestock industry amid a tainted egg crisis here that is causing a health scare, an official at the presidential office Cheong Wa Dae said Saturday. 

The official, who asked not to be named, told Yonhap News Agency that Moon and his staff discussed measures on pesticide-tainted eggs for nearly two hours Friday, reiterating that every ministry should help solve the ongoing crisis that's under Prime Minister Lee Nak-yon's control. 

Moon on Wednesday already ordered Lee to comprehensively oversee the issue and thoroughly inform the public on the outcome of an ongoing inspection of all egg products. 

During Friday's meeting, Moon reportedly asked for measures that can fundamentally fix problems in the country's livestock industry in order to avoid similar food-related crises in the future, according to the official. 

"The pesticide-tainted egg issue is a problem that can't be solved without fundamentally changing the livestock industry," the official said. "Moon acknowledged that there needs to be radical measures to fix problems and ordered such measures to be prepared."

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs' recently completed inspections on 1,239 egg farms and related facilities nationwide that showed 49 farms had used illegal insecticides. It is expected that the government could reform the poultry production system, as well as the country's food crisis management system. 

Establishing a sustainable environment for the agriculture and food industry was one of the 100 national tasks in Moon administration's five-year policy road map. The government plan included adopting enhanced insurance policy for animal diseases and producing vaccines for foot-and-mouth disease. (Yonhap)