British Lion eggs

Trade body British Lion Egg Processors has relaunched its code of practice, and claims its new food safety standards far exceed those required for egg processors elsewhere in Europe.

It said this week that the new code would stipulate all Lion egg products must be processed from British Lion Quality shell eggs - helping to protect “food manufacturers, retailers and caterers from potential issues, and meeting consumer demand for top quality British ingredients”.

Citing recent safety scares over the quality of imported egg products, such as dioxin issues in Europe and salmonella outbreaks in the US, the trade body said the new code of practice ensured “all those who specify Lion egg products, and their customers, can avoid these risks because they are using a product that is fully traceable, produced to the highest food safety standards, and guarantees compliance with animal welfare legislation”.

The new code will be enforced by regular and unannounced independent audits, which have been increased.

The auditing process also includes isotope testing, which can indicate consistency with a claimed country of origin/production system. As traceability became more difficult once an egg was taken out of its shell, this was a particularly important development for the food manufacturing and processing industry, said British Lion Egg Processors chairman Ian Jones.

“No food business wants to compromise on food safety, so the launch of the latest version of the code of practice gives retailers, caterers and food manufacturers absolute protection and confidence in the safety of the food they are producing and selling,” he added.

“The British Lion scheme is one of the world’s greatest food industry success stories and the latest updates to the egg products code are the result of an ongoing drive to utilise the latest research and cutting edge technological advances to maintain the status of the Lion scheme as the leading food safety assurance scheme.”

It follows the lodging of a trademark application by the British Egg Industry Council during the autumn for the ‘Made with British Lion eggs’ slogan, and a logo depicting the Lion Eggs logo within an egg-shaped Union Flag.

The BEIC declined to comment any further on the trademark application last month, but it comes on the back of a concerted lobbying campaign for the introduction of mandatory country-of-origin labelling on egg products across the EU.