February 20, 2004

Singapore Turn To Australia For More Eggs

Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authorithy (AVA) and local supermarket chain NTUC FairPrice has turned to Australia for supplementary egg supply.

AVA and FairPrice have imported from Perth, Australia, the first shipment of 500 cartons of eggs.

Said AVA's Director, Leslie Cheong: "It serves as an alternative source of supply, we import the bulk of eggs from Malaysia, 70%, and the remaining 30% comes from our local farms, and so it's important that we have an alternative source of supply."

If you're wondering what's the difference between eggs from Singapore and Australia, here's the list:

- Different packaging,

- The eggs imported from Australia are more than double the price of the local eggs

- They taste different.

Said Stuart Robertson, Marketing Manager of Golden Egg Farms: "We feed them on canola oil, lucen and also on wheat. So they'll have a different taste."

There is a difference in the quality and freshness of these higher priced imports.

FairPrice's General Manager, Gerry Lee, said: "Because they've gone through the cold-chain management, they are specially graded by machine, washed, cleaned to remove the dirt, and they're sprayed with a micro mist of oil to preserve the freshness and the quality."

The eggs are from one of 3 AVA-approved farms in Australia.

And are actually sold at a lower price to consumers in Singapore compared to Australia.