Sunny side up, eggs Benedict, or just swallowed raw – eggs are back in town
● OAPS, infants and pregnant women safe to eat runny eggs
Egg soldiers, that traditional classic breakfast favourite of runny eggs and toast, are officially back on the menu today for pregnant women, infants and the elderly for the first time in almost 30 years after the salmonella crisis.
Food Standards Scotland (FSS) has issued revised advice saying vulnerable groups can now enjoy raw or lightly cooked eggs as long as they have the British Lion mark stamped on them.
The food watchdog said the new advice follows a year-long risk assessment by the Advisory Committee on the Microbiological Safety of Food and is the result of extensive food safety measures introduced within the British Lion Code of Practice since its launch in 1998.
A report published by committee in July last year said the presence of salmonella in UK eggs had been “dramatically reduced” in recent years, and the risks were “very low” for eggs which had been produced according to the British Lion code.
More than 90 per cent of UK eggs are produced under this scheme.
In December 1988 Edwina Currie, MP, the then health minister, provoked outrage in the farming industry after she claimed that most of Britain’s egg production was affected by salmonella bacteria.
Ms Currie had to resign two weeks later as egg sales plummeted and the government had to offer a compensation package of millions of pounds to farmers to offset the costs of killing two million unwanted hens and buying surplus eggs.
By early 1989 the link between eggs and salmonella poisoning was proved beyond doubt.
Dr Jacqui Mcelhiney, FSS head of food protection, science and surveillance, said it had been recognised for a number of years that the risk of salmonella had reduced significantly.
“The findings provide the assurance Food Standards Scotland needs to change its advice.
“Whilst healthy consumers can continue to enjoy all UK eggs any way they choose, it’s good news that children, pregnant women and the elderly can now safely eat their eggs soft boiled, runny or raw, as long as they’re stamped with the British Lion Code mark.
“It’s important to note though that this revised advice does not apply to the severely immunocompromised who require medically supervised diets.”
Robert Chapman, former chair of NFU Scotland’s poultry working group, and managing director of award-winning Farmlay Eggs in Strichen, Aberdeenshire, described the new advice as “fantastic news for the Scottish egg sector”.
“It has been a long, long time coming but this is welcome recognition of the hard work and effort put in by egg producers to tackle the threat of salmonella in their flocks.
“I hope this clean bill of health for all will encourage more Scottish consumers to put even more Scottish eggs in their shopping basket each week.”
Existing advice on UK eggs without the Lion mark, non hen eggs and eggs from outside the UK is that they should always be cooked thoroughly for vulnerable people.”
Approximately 15.5 billion eggs were produced in the UK in the 12 months to August, including 1.5 billion from Scotland.
On top of this around 600 million eggs were imported.
“It has been a long, long time coming but thisis welcome recognition of the hard work put in by egg producers to tackle salmonella in their flocks”
BOB CHAPMAN
Farmlay Eggs
Scottish red meat exporters were in upbeat mood as they headed home from Anuga – one of Europe’s largest food fairs, staged in Cologne – with bulging order books and loads of enquiries from potential customers.
For Andrew Duff of Macduff, Wishaw, it was a first-time visit as the family firm with more than a century of trading at the top end of the market is about to move into the export market.
“We specialise in bone-in roasts and while our home market is mainly for continental cattle, the interest I am picking up here is for some of the native breeds,” he said from the show.
The family were one of the first to set up a producer group and this is now expanding along with the business, which currently has a turnover of around about £5 million.
For long time Anuga visitor Simon Dowling, director with Scotbeef in Bridge of Allan, this year’s show was “very busy both with existing customers and new contacts”.
His company has been at the forefront of red meat exports for decades, with Italy and France their main markets, but he said he was encouraged by the level of interest they were getting from new markets, including the Far East.
While politicians in both the UK and in Europe are consumed with the consequences of Brexit, Dowling said it did not seem to be an issue among those doing business. “They are not talking about it. It is too early for it to be an issue,” he said.
He also dismissed concerns about a potential trade deal between the EU and the South American trading group Mercosur which would see an increased tonnage of beef coming into Europe. “It is not an issue.”
Laurent Vernet, head of marketing at Quality Meat Scotland, also dismissed fears that Brexit was having a negative effect on exports, saying it was a bigger issue last year but now people were taking it for granted.
After noting that the QMS stand had been very busy, he was very pleased that all ten of the companies who had made the trip seemed happy with the business they had done.