The British Egg Industry Council is advising retailers and wholesalers who sell free range eggs to display information in store and online to explain that free range eggs have been temporarily reclassified as barn eggs.
The advice, which takes effect from 21 March, follows the continued housing of free range hens on Government veterinary advice to protect them from the risk of avian influenza (bird flu).
In addition, egg packers will be making some changes to packs and the code which appears on eggs, as required by legislation once hens have been housed for more than 16 weeks. As these are free range hens temporarily housed for their wellbeing, producers will continue to use free range packs, however, each pack will be marked with the words ‘Barn eggs’. In addition, each egg will be marked with a number 2 to signify that it is a barn egg, for example 2UK54321, which is explained on each pack.
Retailers can access more information and point of sale at www.freerangeinfo.com, which they can download for use on their premises.
Mark Williams, Chief Executive of the British Egg Industry Council, said: “Our priority is to ensure that consumers are well informed of the changes that are being made. We would ask all retailers to ensure that they have clear signage in store, and we have provided some examples on our website, which they are very welcome to use.”
