by Sarah Hills FoodBizDaily.com London
March 12 2010 - A businessman has been jailed for his part in a multi-million pound fraud where battery eggs were said to have been passed off and sold in supermarkets as free range or organic.
Keith Owen, who ran the Worcestershire-based company, Heart of England Eggs, had pleaded guilty to three counts of false accounting and was jailed for three years. He was also ordered to pay a total of £3.25 million (£3 million confiscation order and £0.25 million prosecution costs).
The prosecution was brought by the government Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which alleged that millions of eggs laid by caged birds were passed off and sold as free-range or organic.
However, the National Farmers’ Union has reassured consumers, saying that extra precautions are already in place.
NFU poultry board chairman, Charles Bourns, said: “The confiscation order and custodial sentence handed down by the courts sends out a strong message that this kind of activity will not be tolerated.
“Following the allegations, the British Lion scheme has strengthened its code of practice to ensure its traceability is robust, with on farm stamping, a new database to track eggs throughout the system and unannounced audits.
“Consumers can be reassured that with new procedures in place the eggs they are buying are genuine. The Lion mark helps ensure the highest standards of traceability and labelling.”
Since the beginning of this year, all Lion marked eggs, produced from cage systems, have been stamped on the farm with the production and producer code. Free range and organic eggs will be stamped on farm from January 1 2011.