BEIC statement on Keith Owen trial

The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has welcomed the outcome of Keith Owen’s trial. 

The BEIC takes any allegation of wrongdoing extremely seriously and has fully supported investigators since it was made aware of the allegations regarding Heart of England Eggs in November 2006. 

Once the BEIC had been informed of the allegations, it immediately instigated an unannounced audit of Heart of England’s packing station, where serious discrepancies were found.  Following the audit, Heart of England Eggs ceased membership of the British Lion Code of Practice. 

The British Lion scheme is the leading egg industry Code of Practice in the world in terms of food safety, quality and traceability and, since the allegations were made, the BEIC has significantly strengthened the Lion Code of Practice.

Recent improvements to the Code include unannounced audits of all Lion packing stations, better traceability through a new database to track eggs throughout the system and stamping of the egg production method on eggs on farms.

Mark Williams, Chief Executive of the British Egg Industry Council, said:  “Once we were made aware of the allegations in 2006 strong action was taken to strengthen the Lion Code of Practice so that consumers can have the utmost confidence in British Lion eggs.”

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For further information please contact the British Egg Information Service on 020 7052 8899