Egg industry leaders in the United Kingdom are concerned that confusion over Dutch egg labelling could result in barn eggs being mistakenly bought as free range.
The confusion has arisen because the term used for barn eggs in Holland (scharrelei) can also mean free range. It has caused such concern that the British Egg Products Association (BEPA) has issued a warning to food manufacturers to take care when checking the eggs they are buying, and John Retson, chairman of the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA), said that companies who wanted to use free range eggs needed to be able to ensure that the eggs they were buying were, in fact, free range.
’People should not be misled about what they are buying,’ said John. ’Labelling needs to be clear and consumers ought to be able to feel confident that they are buying free range if that is what they want. There should be no confusion whatsoever.’
Supporters of a Dutch animal welfare organisation, Wakker Dier, voted the scharrelei, or barn eggs, as having the most misleading labelling on food packaging in the country in an annual poll. Wakker Dier and other welfare organisations have been pressing for the labelling to be changed so that consumers are able to make a clear choice when buying their eggs. Their pressure has so far had no effect on government.
’The name is misleading because in our language scharrelei is being used as the term for barn eggs but it can also be translated as free range,’ a spokesman for Wakker Dier told the Ranger. ’We have been trying to get the government to change the name but they have refused, so we are also continuing to educate people to look for the code on the egg and to avoid buying barn eggs.’ The scharrelei eggs should carry the code number 2 because they are from barn production. Free range eggs carry the number 1 code. Code 3 is for cage eggs and organic eggs are marked with a zero.
The spokesman said, ’We spent years campaigning against battery and they are now almost gone in the Netherlands, but 40 per cent of Dutch eggs are now barn. The labelling should be more clear so that people can choose whether to buy barn or free range. We would encourage people to buy free range.’
Each year Wakker Dier holds a vote amongst supporters to identify the most misleading products. The organisation has 25,000 members and a total of 40,000 people who receive its newsletter, although anyone is able to take part in the vote. The scharrelei egg was clearly identified as the product with the most misleading label.
The Dutch branch of Compassion in World Farming has also been critical of the scharrelei egg. It says that many people in the Netherlands would think that when they were buying a scharrelei egg that it would come from an outdoor hen. That was not true.
Geert Laugs, director of Compassion in World Farming Netherlands, has said that consumers should be provided with accurate information on packaging, and that should cover images used on products. He said he wanted to see clear labelling in general on products that described the housing system in which the animals had been kept. He said it was clear that if there were any pictures on the packaging of any animal product they should represent what was in the box.
In the United Kingdom the British Egg Products Association is urging food manufacturers to make sure they are getting the product they believe they are purchasing, following confusion over terminology used in Dutch egg production.
BEPA says that there have been several recent reports that buyers have been buying Dutch scharrelei eggs believing them to be free range when they are, in fact, barn eggs - which are produced in a system that does not allow the hens any access to the outside.
BEPA says it has written to users of egg products to highlight the potential confusion.
Andrew Hewston, representing the British Egg Products Association, said, ’We are very concerned that buyers get what they think they are paying for, so that they can avoid misleading their customers.
’It is clear that there has been some confusion. Hens in the barn system cannot go outside. Specifying British free range egg products which conform to buyers’ and consumers’ expectations are widely available and will remove any possible confusion.’
BEPA says that increasing numbers of British food manufacturers and foodservice companies have been signing up to British Lion egg products ahead of the forthcoming European Union ban on conventional cages.
The UK egg industry is warning that some 25 per cent of laying hens in the European Union will become illegal when the ban comes into effect at the start of 2012. There is concern that illegal egg could find its way into egg products entering the UK market, and BEPA is saying that food manufacturers and foodservice companies should ensure they stay legal by purchasing British Lion egg products.
