Illicit egg-sellers, beware!

Press, 12 August 1980, Page 6

Illicit egg-sellers, beware!

Christchurch .egg “blackmarketeers” can expect a rough time from the Poultry Board. “We have had reports from our Christchurch people that black-marketeers are fairly active in the area, and we are determined to put an end to it one way or another,” said Mr R. Allan, the board’s Egg Marketing Authority’s marketing manager, in Wellington yesterday. “We will try to get the offenders to mend their ways, and if this does not work, we will prosecute both the farmer and retailer involved.”

Eggs sold in the Christchurch area are supposed to come to retailers via Combined Co-operative Distributors, Ltd, which is licensed by the board to grade eggs and test for internal quality. However, some retailers. are

buying straight from poultry farms. “This breaks down the orderly marketing- system. The marketing areas were brought in for both the industry’s and the consumers’ protection,” Mr Allan said. “There are times of the year when eggs are hard to get and anyone interfering with the system upsets the balance. Then some grades become harder to get than others because processors who are dealing on the black-market sell their best ones direct to retailers." When asked if eggs sold direct to retailers were more

likely to be "farm fresh,” Mr Allan said that there was no such thing as a "farm fresh egg.” .Quality was the issue, not the freshness. Egg farmers did not have. proper quality control testing equipment, and although the, egg

might be fresh, it might not be of good internal quality. “It might be full of blood,” he said.

“The future of the egg. industry is dependent. on the consumers’ getting good quality. 'Farm fresh’ is a misconception.” Mr Allan said that eggs delivered ' through G.C.D. to .consumers in • Christchurch would not be more than, five i days old because there was, a’ quick turnover at the disrt tributors and good stock > rotation at retail outlets. The maximum durability . date was 21 days’ from .packaging so long as the-eggs were' refrigerated-, ■ ‘ One Christchurch person had been prosecuted in the last year for black-market-ing, and five cases were being investigated . in . Wellington. About 10 per cent , of eggs sold there were black-

marketed and 7 per cent of these could be unfit for human consumption. Investigations., m other areas would come after Wellington had been dealt with, Mr Allan said.

According to a Poultfy Board spokesman in Christchurch, the worst offenders are butchers’, because they sell a lot of loose eggs. x'. i Loose C.C.D. eggs, could be > identified by little tickets bn I each - egg, but some, butchers 1 took them off,- so it was easy to, put black-market eggs in with them. However, they could sometimes be distinguished as they were more likely to be of, various sizes, he said. . Cases where black-market-ing was suspected were always investigated.