We welcome the Food Safety Agency (FSA) announcement on runny eggs.
Managing Director Phill Crawley, a member of the NFU’s Poultry Board, commented: “I’m delighted that, after more 25 years of debate, research and sometimes alarmist news coverage, the FSA is able to announce that pregnant women, babies and older people can eat their eggs runny – so long as they have the British Lion stamp on.
“As British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) approved producers and packers, we carry the Lion stamp on our eggs – more than 90% of all eggs sold in the UK are Lion approved and for good reason. The Lion scheme has made eggs safer today than ever.
“The FSA announcement is good news for the whole British farming sector, for the consumers and for Sunrise Eggs, where we’ve invested heavily over the years in the additional measures of husbandry and production care demanded by the Lion Code of Practice.
“That Code demands that our flocks are properly managed and that levels of husbandry are second to none. We pack and market both our own eggs and those from contracted producers. In every aspect of our business we implement every element of the Lion Quality Code of Practice,” said Phill.
The new FSA advice follows the publication of a detailed review by Government food safety advisors, which concluded that the major reduction in risk from UK eggs in recent years meant long-standing advice about vulnerable groups eating runny eggs should be amended for eggs produced under the British Lion Scheme. The advice was introduced after the Edwina Currie salmonella scare in 1988.
