Eggs donated to those in need by Cornish farms
CHICKEN farmers in Cornwall are donating tens of thousands of free-range eggs to support local communities and food banks.
St Ewe Free Range Eggs has seen its orders from the food service and hospitality sector plummet as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, with the family-run business pointing out that its 180,000 hens “can’t be furloughed”.
Faced with the reality of having to throw “perfectly edible” eggs away, the award-winning Tregony-based producer responded by launching the ‘Shell Out to Help Out’ campaign earlier this month.
Popping up at locations throughout Cornwall, for each tray sold at their current reduced price, St Ewe is donating one carton of eggs to local food banks and charities.
Rebecca Tonks, chief executive of St Ewe Free Range Eggs, which works with other family farm producers across the South West, said she hopes the campaign will help to ease the growing food poverty issue which is being exacerbated by the “relentless” Covid-19 crisis.
“Just like many small businesses, we have seen over half of our business drop off due to the pandemic, with half of our customers being in the hospitality and food service sector. Unfortunately, you can’t furlough a hen and our girls keep producing nutritious eggs, with no home to go to,” she explained.
“We, along with countless other packers in the UK, face the heartbreaking reality of having to throw away these perfectly edible eggs, right when they are needed most. It’s from here that the idea for the Shell Out To Help Out campaign came about; to reduce food waste and supply tasty and nutritious eggs to those that need it most.”
Poultry farming has been hit “particularly hard” by the latest national lockdown, Ms Tonks added, with the added uncertainty of Brexit and an increase in feed prices leaving many businesses in a “dismal position”.
She continued: “Timing is everything, and the lead-up to Christmas, which had its usual buzz, was followed by the plummet that falls in between Christmas and New Year; this year it has been faster and harder than ever. Supermarkets are restricting egg sales, which seems such an odd thing to do when surplus eggs are going out of date and being thrown away! This all seems criminal when there are so many people in need of food and this is when the idea of Shell Out To Help Out was conceived.
“Eggs are one of the most nutritious foods you can buy, as well as being affordable, extremely versatile, simple to cook; the perfect food for all! So, let’s get them out there and share this beautiful British product with those that need it most.”
To help spread the word, St Ewe has partnered with local charities including CHAOS (Feed Cornwall), FareShare South West, The Hive and Newquay Orchard. It has also recruited top chefs such as Guy Owen of the St Enodoc Hotel in Rock and the Rick Stein Group to volunteer their time to sell eggs in and around their local communities.
CHAOS has been given some 20,000 of the St Ewe’s free-range eggs to distribute via its community larders and the team are keen to encourage key workers to take advantage of the scheme.
Babs Rounsevell, managing director of CHAOS, said: “We are incredibly grateful to St Ewe eggs for their generosity which will help hundreds of people across Cornwall. We know just how hard critical workers are working to protect all of us at this time and we would particularly like to invite them to come and collect some of these eggs.”
The locations of the pop-ups will be posted on the St Ewe Free Range Eggs Facebook, page and anybody who is interested in this campaign is encouraged to join the Shell Out To Help Out group to share stories, recipe inspiration and do their bit to help others during these difficult times.