March 20, 2007

Free-range eggs scam in UK ten times bigger than first thought

For up to five years, UK consumers have been paying premium prices for more than 500 million eggs thought to be from organic farms when they were from caged chickens, according to the Department for the Enviroment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Defra initiated an investigation last year into the passing off of eggs from chickens reared in battery cages as free-range.

The scam is estimated to have cost British consumers at least GBP50 million (over EUR73 million) over the past five years.

Their investigations revealed that even supermarket chains such as Tesco and Morrisons are believed to have been victims.

The investigation said the 2.2 million eggs arriving weekly in Britain from mainland Europe could have carried fake labels.

Enforcement authorities believe the illicit trade has been made easier by a lack of inspection of eggs arriving at British ports. If any checks had been made, unstamped eggs would have been readily identified.