Help about fresh eggs and the codes please.

leonie_2 · 12 May 2005 at 12:20PM

Hi everyone

Following on from a recent thread about eggs. I decided never to eat any but free range (hopefully will have my own hens soon!)

So I just popped off to my local butchers and bought a dozen eggs. I asked if they were free range and he said yes. I paid £1.30 a dozen.

I've just got home and found the code on them is 3 which is caged. Now can someone tell me exactly what that is, is it battery hens??

I will be furious if it is and im going straight back to the shop!!

Please set me straight on this one

Leonie

Curry_Queen · 12 May 2005 at 12:51PM

There is a post that has the codes listed somewhere, I'll see if I can find it, but yes code 3 does mean battery hens. I'd be straight back to the shop too if that were me :mad:

The post I referred to is here.

leonie_2 · 12 May 2005 at 12:55PM

Thank you Curry_Queen, i've been sat here waiting for a reply with my blood boiling!!! What makes it worse is after I asked if there were free range, the next lady bought a dozen and it was probably because I asked!!!

Right now I know for sure, im off back to the shop. :mad:

Curry_Queen · 12 May 2005 at 12:59PM

Good luck!

I recently had the same problem with our local butcher who usually supplies local free range eggs but the last lot I bought from him were coded 3 too and I sent them straight back, much to DS's embarrassment

Tracey_Smith · 12 May 2005 at 1:04PM

Hi there Leonie,

Here are the codes from the other thread about 'Value Eggs'.

0 = organic

1 = free range

2 = barn

3 = caged

UK = origin

5 numbers = reference number/location of batch

Go give them a rocket my friend, that's outrageous!

Incidentally, when you get a mo, visit Big Barn, put your post code in and you will find STACKS of great local producers in your area, for good eggs, organic box deliveries, local meat etc.

All the best to you,

leonie_2 · 12 May 2005 at 2:27PM

Right im back!

Gosh I was shaking with anger, I was hoping the shop was full but only me. Anyway I told him that he sold me the eggs, saying they were free range and he confirmed they were. I replied that they werent as the 3 on the egg means they are battery. He gave me a look and said I was getting confused with sizing.......... my blood boiled!!!

So I said, well i've just rang up the agricultural place and they confirmed they are battery eggs so if you give me your telephone number I can ask them to give you a ring and help you with the codes!!!!!

Anyway then his tone changed and he went on about he was getting confused and he 'thought' they were free range. He gave me my money back and I went on for another few minutes about it being a terrible thing that they were being sold as free range and that whilst I knew, what about the other poor shoppers.

I'm very sad now as I trusted him. I've been buying my meat from there as I assumed that i'd be getting a better, more humanly killed piece of meat, but how can I trust him again. I'll never go in that shop again and im going to tell my neighbours too

Sorry, rant over. Im just appalled that this is allowed to happen.

Oops edited to say, Tracey thankyou for the link. Im in ashby de la zouch but it seems theres no where available to buy eggs. Just a farmers market but thats not until the end of the month. I shall go there. Thankyou

Loadsabob · 12 May 2005 at 2:39PM

Leonie, I'm really impressed! You've made my day by having the guts to go back and put them right.

It's a shame you're having to struggle to find really good, humanely produced eggs, I really did think we'd moved on in this country to the extent where everyone would have that choice available to them, but it seems not,

take care, and though your blood was boiling, I hope you allow yourself a smile later at the fact that you went back! :T

spendaholic · 12 May 2005 at 2:52PM

We live in the sticks and there's a farm shop a few miles away, based within a home farm. There's loads of room and the land sprawls out for miles. They advertise fresh eggs so we stopped off to buy half a dozen. Walking through the expansive farmyard we noticed pig sties to the left and enclosed barns to the right, and from within the barns we could hear flapping. When we got to the shop I asked if the eggs were free range and she said they couldn't have free range eggs because there wasn't the room and people are always in and out.

There was loads of bloomin' room! And how hard can it be to ask visitors to beware of the free roaming chickens?!

Anyway, we thanked her and went to the supermarket and got Yorkshire Farmhouse eggs, which are local and free range. These eggs were 99p in Morrisons, but when I went to Tesco a few days later they were £1.19, for the same size. Had I not been able to get Tesco own free range eggs that time for 84p I might have insisted they price match. As it was, I mentioned it to customer services anyway, so hopefully they'll come down by our next visit.

Good for you, though, Leonie, and for holding your ground when he suggested you might be confusing the code with the size. He may have genuinely believed they were free range, but for a butcher to get away with that? Nah.

apprentice_tycoon · 12 May 2005 at 3:23PM

Well done Leonie - is it a Trading Standards issue, or DOES HE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE?

leonie_2 · 12 May 2005 at 3:39PM

Well the going back to the shop was never in question. I always try to stand up for myself and it was a horrible thing to mislead people like that!

I have calmed down now but was so angry earlier that I was wondering about ringing trading standards. Yes he doesn know me as he is your usual butcher type and talks to everyone who goes in. I still feel the same though, I wont set foot in that shop again because if he is able to lie so convincing, what boundries does he work to? Would he be happy selling bad meat????

I am trying to rethink my lifestyle at the moment. I've started growing my own veggies and I try to buy organic where possible. I've also stopped buying cleaning products... vinegar is my friend! My daughter had cancer last year and its made me think more about the environment and the rubbish I put in my body. I am looking into getting a couple of hens and then using the eggs more in cooking and using less meat. Its a long journey but my habits are changing.

I still think I was right earlier by going back to the shop. How can we change for the better when idiots give us false information

apprentice_tycoon · 12 May 2005 at 3:55PM

I think that point you made about your daughter's health is very valid, it's heightened your awareness of your surroundings and the environment. I'd love some chickens but the garden isn't really suitable.
If it were me I would have done as you did and been happy that I'd made my point, if it was a town centre butcher I think that I would have reported him, it's harder with a local one like yours. Out of interest, it might be worth asking a friend to go in to the shop in a few days time to see if the same happens again....

PLEASE READ BEFORE POSTING

Help about fresh eggs and the codes please.

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free