Consumers in Yorkshire can be sure of where their egg came from

It's on a day like this that you want to know exactly where your eggs have come from.

The Harrogate firm Chippindale Foods, which was founded in 1930, packages and despatches over one million free range eggs per week from across the Yorkshire region to supermarkets including Morrison's, Booths and to wholesale food distributors.

Chippindale is the first and only company to give customers full traceability on their eggs. Its website launched in June 2005, www.wheresyoursfrom.com, allows consumers to type in the batch number from their egg and trace it back to the farm it came from.

Says Lorna Chippindale, Director of Chippindale Foods. "Encouraging consumers to see exactly where their food is from, and offering the chance to ask questions of each farmer has helped to bridge the gap between consumers and producers which sadly seems to have widened over the past decade. Given headline news today, we have seen many more visitors to our website. Hopefully www.wheresyoursfrom.com will reassure our consumers of Yorkshire Free Range and brontëbrowns organic eggs."

"Consumers today are more concerned than ever about the provenance of their food. Seven out of ten now buy free range and organic produce for environmental and food safety reasons; indeed in a recent consumer survey : 80% of consumers said it was "Very important" to understand where food they were providing for their family comes from."

The company has also secured £130,000 in financial support from The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA), with advice from Business Link York and North Yorkshire to expand its premises and invested in the latest egg-grading machine.

Says MD, Mr Chippindale, "The project will improve our production flow, efficiency and quality as well as giving us unbeatable product traceability. We are the first in Yorkshire to invest in this technology; it will help us compete with the larger egg packers in the industry." "We have a superb supply base of free range and organic farmers in the north. Now we are looking for further production to meet the ever increasing demand for quality egg."

Mr Langhamer, Business Link adviser, added "Chippindale has set a very high standard for other produce distributors to follow across Yorkshire. They are a tremendous example of the highly innovative and motivated North Yorkshire companies which have stuck their heads and shoulders above the rest to take their business forward and exceed customer expectations.

"In an era where traceability and provenance have become food industry buzzwords, Chippindale's innovative approach is exactly what consumers are looking for."

If you would like to find out more please visit www.wheresyoursfrom.com

To enquire about being a Farming Partner with Chippindale Foods please call Peter Chignell on 01423 884 042 for further information.