Britain’s top celebrity chefs are being asked to help persuade consumers to buy all sizes of eggs, not just large ones.
According to the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA), shoppers have developed something of an “obsession” with large eggs leaving producers with the problem of what to do with the 45% of eggs classified by retailers as medium or small.
The association wants people to understand that hens naturally lay a range of sizes and that there is excellent protein and good value for money in buying a box of medium or mixed weight eggs.
The BFREPA has already written to Mary Berry, Jamie Oliver, Rick Stein and Raymond Blanc, urging them to remove egg size references from their recipes.
It is now asking 50 celebrity chefs and high-profile bakers to publicly support the message that bigger isn’t always better when to comes to eggs.
NFU Scotland poultry chairman, Robert Thompson, said the union will also run an egg size campaign in the weeks ahead.
He added: “Producers cannot pick and choose what size of eggs they produce and by buying only large eggs consumers are creating an uneven market for hard-working producers.”
Robert Chapman of Farmlay Eggs, Strichen, said falling prices for eggs, driven by retail pressure from discounters, meant people could now buy six large eggs at such a competitive price that alternative markets often had to be found for medium and small sizes.
He said selling medium and small eggs into wholesale or processing markets has “huge implications” for farmers.
Mr Chapman added: “It’s also a proven fact that gram for gram a medium sized egg is more nutritious than a large one, a point we need to get across to shoppers.”