The egg market has changed dramatically over the past 30 years. The Salmonella crisis of the late 1980s reduced consumer faith in eggs and egg consumption fell. During the 90s the Lion Quality scheme (of which Fridays is a founding member) all but eliminated Salmonella in eggs produced by the majority of egg farmers.
Egg consumption has been on the increase for the past 15 years with eggs now seen a healthy, nutritious food.
Demand for free range eggs has also gone from strength to strength. More eggs are now produced on free range farms than any other system, and the demand for free range eggs in retail continues to grow at 8%. Fridays plan to continue to invest in and grow the free range egg market.
2016 saw many supermarkets commit to sell only cage free eggs. In a parallel move, Fridays now intends to phase out all colony egg production and concentrate on free range and barn egg production. This move mirrors changing consumer demand and supermarket plans to sell only free range and barn eggs in the future.
Our intention is to achieve this to meet our customers’ stated target date of 2025. This will require substantial investment in new buildings and facilities and we intend to begin planning the changeover process now in order to meet the 2025 date.
For more information on the egg market, please see:
• Egg Statistics
• Industry Information – facts and figures