Retailers will not be banned from selling eggs by the dozen, or any other measurement, despite reports that the EU was set to outlaw the practice.

The NFU and the Food Standards Agency have been looking over the legislation since initial reports over the weekend said selling eggs by the dozen would be banned.

"Labels will still be able to indicate the number of food items in a pack, whether of eggs, bread rolls or fish fingers," the European Parliament said.

There is nothing in the legislation to prevent a voluntary additional measurement, such as "one dozen", remaining on packaging, it added.

Also there will be no changes to the grading of eggs by weight ranges under the proposed legislation.

The legislation will now pass before the Council of Ministers and if they do not agree on its wording then it will pass back to the European Parliament for a second appraisal.

If there was agreement between member states and the parliament, the earliest realistic date for implementation would be 2014 or beyond, the European Parliament said.