Chicken eggs on sale and their packaging must be properly labeled so that the consumer can put in the basket the eggs from the poultry farm that meets his preference. The production method of chicken eggs must be indicated on the egg carton.
As the sale of eggs in stores increases by leaps and bounds in the run-up to Easter, it is a good time to review the labeling requirements for chicken eggs and the special labeling requirements for their packaging.
Chicken eggs are produced in four types of poultry farms and are distinguished by the product code printed on the eggs. Eggs are marked at their place of production and the first number in the code means:
0 – eggs from organic production – organic chickens are not kept in cages and great emphasis is placed on ensuring the welfare of the birds. Chickens can behave as species-specific as possible, have access to the open air for at least a third of their lives, and eat feed allowed in organic farming.
1 – eggs from free-range chickens – free-range chickens mean that the birds are guaranteed constant access to a sufficiently large running area, where they can satisfy their desire to hiss in addition to the ability to move around.
2 – Roosters’ eggs – Roosters are free to move around the coop, can hiss in the litter area, sit on the roost and have access to the nest to lay their eggs.
3 – eggs from caged hens – the European Union (EU) has established certain conditions for hen cages and the hens kept together in them, based on the welfare requirements of the birds. In contrast to the above-mentioned ways of keeping birds, caged chickens do not have the opportunity to move around, hiss and sit on a perch.
It is worth paying attention to chicken eggs produced outside the EU, i.e. in third countries, where the animal welfare standards may or may not correspond to those in the EU. In the first case, the European Commission must have published a corresponding confirmation. Eggs from such third countries should be labeled on the same basis as eggs produced in the EU, so that the first number printed on the egg indicates the type of poultry farm, followed by a letter combination identifying the country of production (such as EE for Estonia, LV for Latvia, LT for Lithuania, etc.) and then the company’s recognition number .
However, if eggs are marketed from third countries where animal welfare requirements are not yet equivalent to ours, special requirements apply. On the outer surface of the egg packaging, the country of origin and the note “the production method does not comply with EC standards” must be indicated in clearly distinguishable and easily readable text. In the boxes with such a special marking, the eggs must not be marked with the initial numbers 0, 1 or 2, which indicate production methods with a higher welfare standard and would therefore mislead the consumer. Eggs from these third countries may only be marked with the number 3.
2024-03-29 07:30:30
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