Soapbox: Ian Jones on egg provenance

Producers of Lion egg products recently undertook a research project looking at the importance of provenance, and its particular relevance to eggs.

What it found was that, although consumers are generally not that concerned whether food products are British or not, the big exception was eggs, for two reasons.

First, consumers could not understand why fresh “local” products, such as eggs, should be imported and, second, they were concerned that products, such as eggs and red meat, which have been the subject of food safety scares, should be produced to the food safety guarantees they felt British quality standards offered.

I agree with our consumers wholeheartedly. Why on earth, when we have perhaps agriculture’s greatest success story in our backyard, does the industry insist on not supporting it and instead importing from Europe?

Consumers want to support British egg producers, so why does the industry shoot itself in the foot? The short-term benefit of trucking eggs in from Europe does not outweigh the long-term benefit that could be gained by supporting the UK’s egg industry. We have a great industry in the UK, built through many years of support for the Lion brand, which is the envy of many other agricultural sectors, and yet among the biggest importers of egg products is the egg industry.

The arguments put forward for this are well publicised – there are not enough eggs in the UK and they’re cheaper. Surely where there is demand, supply will follow and perhaps the question should be why they are cheaper. The answer may well be that they are not produced to the same standard as set by the UK’s Lion Code.

We should put aside the perceived issues and listen to the voice that matters – consumers. It has often been said that the UK egg industry responds to consumer demand – look at the growth in free range – yet we insist on ignoring what the consumer wants in this respect. They want British eggs and egg products and we are only supplying half that equation.

Next time you’re in a room with a group of consumers, ask them how many would prefer to buy products made with British eggs. I can predict what the answer will be.

Then ask them how many know where the egg in their quiche comes from. No doubt they’ll be surprised to hear that around a third of the egg that goes into further processed product comes from abroad.

I hope that manufacturers and retailers recognise that, by omission, they are misleading their customers, because once they do, I’m sure they will change their attitude and recognise that eggs do matter, and British eggs matter even more.

Consumers want British eggs. We have the opportunity to supply them. So let’s make sure we give them what they want.

Ian Jones is vice-chairman of the British Egg Products Association