Citation
(2000), "Databank. Eggs", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 30 No. 2. https://doi.org/10.1108/nfs.2000.01730baf.009
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2000, MCB UP Limited
Databank. Eggs
Databank
Eggs
In the UK the value of the egg market is £510 million and 27 million eggs are consumed each day. The Lion Code of Practice developed by the British Egg Industry Council in 1993 is believed to represent the highest standard of food safety for eggs anywhere in the world. Under the Lion Quality Code all flocks have to be vaccinated against salmonella enteritidis. The importance of traceability and date coding is a major factor to reassure the consumer of freshness and superior quality. Consumers in many countries expect to see some sort of freshness information such as "best before" or "laid on" dates on eggs. Domino, the global coding solution provider, has more than 300 printers in the egg industry. It is currently the market leader in egg coding in Europe with around 80 per cent of the market in the UK. The Egg Coder uses a food grade ink specially designed for printing on egg shells. The ink is fast drying, boil resistant and self-disinfecting. The Egg Coder can keep up with the maximum production capacity of today's biggest graders which are operating at speeds of 130,000 eggs an hour. After printing the eggs are directed to specific packing lanes allowing individual retail packaging requirements to be met.