Free range hit by fraud scandal
Defra has warned consumers that millions of cage eggs have been passed off as free range.
Officials declared that as much as 1 per cent of the free range market could be affected, amounting to 30 million eggs a year. The alert, immediately branded a "free range scandal" by the media left producers outraged.
BFREPA's John Widdowson told listeners to Radio 5 Live "Not only have consumers allegedly been cheated but so also have our members. Because what fraud on this level would do is to help keep down prices for genuine free range eggs. But the worst thing that could happen is that this warning could drive consumers away from our product."
The vice-chairman said any fraud in the industry was scandalous but that there was no evidence to suggest that passing off cage eggs as free range was widespread throughout the industry. But the storm created by Defra certainly did not leave that impression in the mind of the public.
Yet all the information on which the alert was based emerged on October 18 when officials from the Egg Inspectorate together with officers from West Mercia Police raided a packing premises in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, which both organisations have refused to name. They also executed search warrants at two nearby residential properties.
Equipment and paperwork were seized and three people, two men and a woman, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud. They were later released on police bail until the New Year.
In London Egg Inspectorate officials inside Defra decided to call in the egg industry and retailers to "read the riot act". They demanded that both sides should "satisfy themselves immediately that such practice is no longer taking place and that all produce on the shop shelves is accurately labelled."
Although there had been no charges and only one company had fallen under suspicion they also decided to alert consumers to the possible implications of what they had found.
In a press statement they said "In the course of investigations information has come to light confirming that eggs have been incorrectly labelled."
Ironically the story broke on the same day that the Food Standards Agency released details of its research into salmonella in imported eggs (see page 9). So two major national newspapers had damaging lead stories about eggs. The Daily Mail's front page headline "Salmonella In Eggs Alert" turned to an inside page where they also had "Fraud of battery eggs labelled free range". The Times led with "Shoppers deceived in free range scandal". In media terms it amounted to the blackest day for eggs for nearly twenty years.
So why did Defra make statements that clearly implicated the entire egg industry when its only evidence concerned one company?
"We felt that it was in the public interest to make consumers aware of what we had discovered," a spokesman told the Ranger. "Our investigations are on-going and we have no idea at this stage where they will lead or if other companies or individuals may be implicated. We felt that if in five or six months time we had discovered there were wider implications to this then the public would have had the right to ask why they had not been warned."
He confirmed that the one per cent figure released by Defra was based on the throughout of the plant in Bromsgrove.
Major packer Deans is known to have taken supplies from the raided company. It has now suspended any further purchases from the business and has assured its customers that it is confident that all Deans eggs are accurately coded and labelled to UK standards.
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