The Background
Did you know that last year the UK consumed approximately 10.5 billion eggs? That's an average of about 178 per person.
Have you ever thought about where they come from? Maybe you are one of the growing number of people who are collecting your own eggs each day from your Eglu.
Unfortunately not everyone has the space/time or indeed the desire to keep chickens. So if you buy your eggs from your local supplier or supermarket you may rightly think that the eggs have been sourced from the local farms around your area. This isn't always the case.
The Egg Miles tool will allow you to enter a code that is found on each egg you buy and will tell you which part of the country it has come from.
Where is the code?
The code can be found printed on any shop bought eggs, similar to the image shown below.
please make sure you enter the full code including the 1st digit which may be listed on the line above the main code, as shown in the image below.
What does the egg code mean?
According to EU law all eggs produced within the EU must have a code printed on the shell to allow the egg to be traced.
The producer may choose to add a logo or other information, but at a minimum it must have a code like the one shown in the image above, e.g. 1UK12345.
The first digit tells you the farming method:
After that comes the country (e.g. UK) and finally a producer ID (e.g. 12345) identifying the specific farm.
You might also spot a small red lion stamped alongside the code -- that's a separate food-safety certification, not part of the code itself. See what the Lion stamp means, or where the code system itself came from.
Want the four farming methods compared side by side? See organic vs free-range vs barn vs cage. Or if a term on the box has you stumped, try our egg & farming terms glossary.