Egg marketing standards changed to make it clearer how animals are treated

The European Commission has published three regulations updating egg marketing standards throughout the European Union. Among the changes, the new names and their effect on egg labelling stand out, which are of interest to companies in the sector, consumers and other operators in the egg food chain, as indicated by the Interprofessional Organisation of Eggs and Egg Products (Inprovo).

“The regulations that review egg marketing standards in the European Union reaffirm the objectives of the European agri-food model. They will contribute to maintaining market unity, traceability throughout the chain and improving the information offered to Spanish consumers, solving some problems of practical application,” says Enrique Díaz Yubero, director of Inprovo.

One of the new features of the review is the change in the names of some of the production systems on the packaging, to make it easier for consumers to make informed decisions at the time of purchase.

Specifically, “eggs from hens raised on the ground” (with code 2 marked on the shell) are now called “eggs from hens loose in the henhouse”, and those from cages (marked with code 3) will be identified hereinafter as “eggs from chickens raised in conditioned cages”. These are the only cages allowed in the European Union. Those used in most third countries, known as conventional cages, house more hens per square metre and lack equipment such as perches, nests, digging material, nail file and greater height, which are mandatory in the EU.

New code

In this way, the names of the four egg production systems are as follows:

-Code 0: Organic eggs.

-Code 1: Free-range chicken eggs.

-Code 2: Eggs from loose chickens in the chicken coop.

-Code 3: Eggs from chickens raised in conditioned cages.

“Twenty-two percent of the census of laying hens in Spain are loose in the chicken coop. This system is the one that has grown the most in recent years, and is already leading alternative breeding systems to cages in Spain and the European Union. Inprovo member organisations support the change in denominations, which will help Spanish consumers to differentiate, value and better understand how eggs are produced in the European Union, and to choose the eggs they want to buy according to their tastes, preferences, or needs. with the necessary information on the packaging,” says Enrique Díaz Yubero.

News for free-range chicken farms

The new text incorporates a recurring demand from European producers of free-range eggs: to maintain their commercial name after the prolonged confinement of the birds for more than 16 weeks without going outside. Member States are also allowed to authorise the use of free-range chicken farms for other purposes, such as installing solar panels. This way the chickens will have more shaded areas and the farms will be more sustainable.

Another novelty is that flavoured eggs (with intentional odours) are included in category A (fresh eggs) and must comply with their marketing standards. These eggs have been on the Spanish market for a few years.

The new Regulation also establishes that the marking on the shell of the eggs with the producer code will be done on the production farm, unless national authorities establish that it can be done at the first packaging centre where the eggs arrive.

The recently published regulations do not mention the best before date, which since last year has been included in Regulation 853/2004, modified to reduce food waste. The deadline to sell eggs to the consumer, which was 21 days from laying, was extended to 28 days, and in the case of chicken eggs it is equal to the best before date.

The Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA) will soon publish a royal decree implementing the egg marketing standards in our country. The representative organisations of the laying poultry sector in Spain are working with the Ministry on this text.