DO YOU choose a box of eggs with your weekly shop because it says "country fresh", "Class A" or "organic" or has a picture of a hen sitting under a tree? Or do you pick up the newer but "retro" free-range pale blue, pink or eau-de-nil Clarence Court Old Cotswold Legbars favoured by celebrity chefs Rick Stein and Jamie Oliver?
Most consumers have a vague notion that battery hens have a harsh life and their eggs are a "bad thing" so therefore it may be better to dig deeper into your pocket and pay more for alternatives produced by happier hens.
Yet a survey by the RSPCA
in 2005 showed that while 85 per cent of Britons do not support battery-farming in eggs, 66 per cent of eggs produced in this country, sold in supermarkets and used in the production of processed food still come from battery hens.
To confuse things further, opinion in the egg world is divided, leaving many people none the wiser and highly susceptible to advertising buzz words.
In today's Scotsman Mary Lawton, food policy manager at the Scottish Consumer Council, warns shoppers are being misled by the confusing labelling on eggs and calls for "greater transparency" in the definitions used.
Ms Lawton says many consumers are being tricked into buying eggs kept in appalling conditions because of labels such as "barn fresh", which suggest humane treatment, even though the chickens often have little more space than battery hens.
Eggs are big business. Consumers fry, boil, poach, soufflé, scramble and beat their way through 29 million eggs a day. The market is worth £500 million per year.
With such high financial stakes to play for and the on-going debate on healthy eating, eggs are the latest battleground requiring shoppers to equip themselves with information to wield financial savvy. Confusion is rife...
"Free range" labels on eggs do not necessarily mean the hens are doing any walking. But if reared in excellent conditions they will do so - not something stated on the box.
Eggs labelled "free-range and organic" mean they get outside with space to roam.
"Class A" eggs sound like a good idea until you find out "Class B" refers to broken eggs which are pasteurised and sold on to the food industry.
At the start of Ethical Egg Week today, Hugh Raven, director of Soil Association Scotland, says he is backing the call for accurate egg labelling and describes how "free range" does not guarantee hens are living in a rural idyll.
"Labels are often designed to mislead the public and most consumers are unaware of what conditions hens are kept in," Mr Raven said. "Some so-called free-range hens are kept in vast flocks so that while in theory they have the opportunity to range outside, in practice most never venture outside.
"They have to run the gauntlet of 'bully hens' standing sentry at the doors pecking and dominating other hens. If they do manage to get outside, they are often out in paddocks with no cover, which is not appropriate for jungle fowl birds."
An added problem is that if the paddocks are not rotated hens gather on the same patch of land, which becomes contaminated with parasites and disease.
The Soil Association licenses organic producers meeting its standards on eggs, poultry and meat. In terms of poultry and eggs the standards exceed EU regulations.
Mr Raven added: "Hens producing organic eggs are kept in smaller flocks, making it easier for them to venture outside, and licensees are encouraged to provide adequate shelter. I very much agree we need much greater transparency so labels say what they mean and government-backed financial incentives encouraging farmers toconvert to organic egg production."
But Dennis Surgenor, secretary of the Scottish Egg Producer Retailers Association, representing over 100 producers and retail-ers, believes there is no need to alter egglabelling.
"The Scottish Consumer Council should read the regulations before making suggestions. I really don't understand the thinking behind this," he said.
"Eggs are well enough regulated as they are. The label tells people where the eggs are from and what system was used to pro- duce them. They also have a pre-pack date on them. The labelling has to conform to EU regulations."
Mr Surgenor added: "I wouldn't put a free-range egg in my mouth. A problem with free-range hens that people fail to mention is that on wet or windy days they don't want to go outside, so start attacking and de-beaking each other. Vets have told me they have more problems with free-range hens than the others."
Philip Lee-Woolf, who founded Cotswold-based Clarence Court in 1990, pioneering the revival of traditional and British speciality breeds of hens, is a strong advocate of ethical rearing of hens which, he says, benefits the consumer.
"It really angers us to see egg producers using strange descriptions claiming to be free-range when they're doing no extra work and taking on no extra expense," he said.
"Most of the younger generation have never tasted a proper egg while older folkhave forgotten what they were like. A 'real' free-range egg has a rich natural-coloured yolk, a dense texture and thick shell, not to mention the flavour."
James Withers, deputy chief executive, National Farmers Union Scotland, said: "We are in the midst of a changing food culture in which consumers are becoming more discerning about what they put in their shopping trolley. And the spread of new and different labels is a symptom of retail-ers and processors going to extra lengths to distinguish their own brands from others and tap into that market.
"These days, every single egg produced in Scotland can be traced back to the farm where it was laid. That was unthinkable just a few years ago and remarkable in a country producing 800 million eggs every year.
"There is certainly no desire from egg producers to add in unnecessary labelling, which ultimately costs money in an industry where the financial pressures are huge at the moment. Some shoppers will always buy on the basis of price alone. Most of the others, who want more guarantees on their food, have two main buying criteria.
"Firstly that food is farm-assured so it is produced to high animal welfare, environmental and food quality standards. Secondly, that it is local. So the message on eggs is to look for the lion mark and the letters 'SCO' on the egg."
A Scottish Executive spokeswoman said: "The marketing of Class A and Class B eggs is governed by EU regulations. Any changes to these would, therefore, need to be made at EU level. If the Scottish Consumer Council has concerns about terms used for marketing eggs in Scotland, we would be happy to discuss these with it."
