EGG LABELS

READY EGGY GO

Have you seen all of the red ink on your shop bought eggs? Well this idea comes from the organisation that brought you straight bananas and a set number of peas in a pod. It’s the egg code. Arriving soon through a letterbox near you will be a beginner's guide to cracking the scrambled new EU egg code. A total of €150,000 will be spent teaching us how to read eggs in order to trace their country, and even farm, of orgin. The campaign - funded by the EU, the Department of Agriculture and Irish Egg Marketing - will help consumers track their egg from chicken to plate. A series of numbers stamped on the egg will reveal whether it is free range or barn, which country and county it came from, the ID of the individual farm and the "best before" date. Numbers rather than words are used, as the code must be intelligible in every EU country. Hence, 1IED12 means the egg is free range (1), from Ireland (IE), from Donegal and from farm number 12. The "best before" date is printed beneath. The publicity campaign will include newspaper advertisements and leaflets sent to homes and supermarkets. "The public want transparent information about the food they are eating and they will benefit from this campaign," said John Mohan of the Irish Egg Association.

Environmental.