The United Kingdom egg industry has warned food manufacturers and food service companies about the potential threat from illegal eggs once the European Union’s ban on conventional cages comes into force at the beginning of next year.
The warning was issued at a briefing organised by the British Egg Industry Council and attended by journalists from specialist magazines covering the food manufacturing and service sectors. They were told that whilst UK egg producers had invested heavily to ensure that they would be fully compliant with the new rules, large numbers of producers in continental Europe had failed to make the necessary conversion. More than 100 million hens would be illegal come January 1 2012 (29 per cent of EU egg production). The only way for British food manufacturers and food service companies to ensure that the eggs they were using were up to standard was to buy Lion.
Coincidentally, the briefing came on the heels of the latest scare involving imported egg. UK supermarkets were forced to remove baked goods from their shelves when it was realised that contaminated liquid egg from Germany had found its way into the UK food sector. Previous scares have involved imported Spanish eggs. Ian Jones, the vice chairman of British Lion Egg Processors, told journalists at the briefing that as well as being the only industry scheme to require that cage eggs meet the requirements of the new legislation, the British Lion Code was also an assurance of egg quality. "The Lion Code ensures that eggs and egg products are produced to superior food safety and hygiene standards, including strict controls on feed," he said.
Research carried out by BEIC indicates that an alarming number of people in food manufacturing and food service are completely unaware of the impending changes to egg production rules. In a survey carried out on behalf of BEIC some 46 per cent of food manufacturers and food service companies questioned said they were unaware of the rule changes. Of those who were aware of the rule changes only 25 per cent of the overall sample were able to describe accurately what changes were involved. Others were only able to give vague or inaccurate descriptions of the changes.
It is the egg products sector that is likely to be affected most if illegal eggs continue to be produced and trade after the EU cage ban comes into force next year. Whilst EU rules on the labelling of shell eggs ensure they are marked with a code showing where they were produced, how they were produced and who produced them, there is no such legislation for egg products. BEIC chief executive Mark Williams said during the press briefing in London that the industry had been pressing the EU for better labelling for egg products but had so far been unsuccessful.
Mark said at the meeting that he found it "staggering" that 29 per cent of EU eggs would become illegal on January 1. If the EU went ahead and enforced the new legislation as planned it would mean destroying 83 million eggs every day, creating an egg shortage that could not be filled by non-EU countries because of strict salmonella rules and leading to price increases for consumers. He said it was more likely that producers would be allowed to continue producing illegal eggs. This would cause "total market disruption," he said. It would affect the viability off compliant egg producers and would be unfair on producers who had invested millions of pounds in order to meet the EU’s requirements.
Mark said the BEIC’s priority was to ensure that illegal eggs did not cross the English Channel and disrupt the UK egg market, and he said the industry had the support of the UK Government in pressing for an intra-EU ban on the movement of illegal eggs if they continued to be produced next year. The Government was also supporting the industry’s call for a new egg labelling code to distinguish the illegal eggs from those produced under the new EU rules.
However, he did concede that a new code would not offer any solution for illegal egg entering the egg product sector. The best way for manufacturers and food service companies to ensure that they were buying legally compliant and safe egg products was to use Lion, and this message was echoed by Clive Frampton, the chairman of British Lion Egg Processors. "It is very important that you are able to audit the people who supply you if you want to ensure that the egg is legal and that it is safe."
Ian Jones said that the UK egg products industry used three billion eggs every year, accounting for 24 per cent of all eggs consumed in the UK. Some 80 per cent of egg products went into food manufacturing, 20 per cent into food service and one third of the total eggs used in egg products were imported. There was an increasing trend towards British but it was slow, he said.
Ian said the transition to the new EU rules was likely to be chaotic next year, it was likely that illegal eggs would continue to be produced and British food manufacturers and food service companies would need to be able to identify which egg products were legal and which were not. By using Lion egg products they could be sure that the eggs they were using would be legal. Ian highlighted the possibility that UK companies who used eggs from banned cages would be targeted by animal welfare groups.
Present at the briefing was the president of the National Farmers Union, Peter Kendall. He told the journalists that British egg producers had invested £400 million pounds in order to comply with the new EU rules. Egg producers operated in an unprotected market with no subsidies to help them along, yet they had made the investment to meet the demands of consumers expressed through politicians in the EU.
"We need consumers, the food chain, the whole industry to support us. I know we all recognise the cost pressures out there, particularly in the current economic climate, but we need you to back us on this," he said. Lion egg producers had made the investment and they needed people to get behind them.
"Please don’t sell us down the river by buying from non-compliant operators elsewhere in Europe," he said. He appealed to food manufacturers and food service companies to get behind Lion egg producers and their commitment to high standards of production.
The briefing marked the start of a campaign entitled ’The Clock is Ticking’. It is being supported by British Lion egg producers, packers and processors, as well as the NFU, and is aimed at ensuring that retailers, food manufacturers, bakers and food service companies source legally compliant eggs and egg products when the new rules come into force next year.
