THE “FRESH” EGG

Hokitika Guardian, 28 June 1929, Page 2

THE “FRESH” EGG

For something like a fortnight now all eggs that enter this country have been stamped with their land of origin —but apparently we are no nearer, the truth about their age. The secretary of the Institute of Certificated Grocers has been- telling a Press Assoeiatiqn reporter that .there has never been “ an official ruling ” about a new-laid egg—it all depends on the time in which it has. been kept (says the “Manchester Guardian ”). But something also depends on the time that the hen laid it—and the time at which it comes to the table. There are “new-laid” eggs, “ fresh ” eggs, and eggs—perhaps the most famous class of all — that “are good in parts.” The ultimate test—like that of the proverbial pudding—is proved by the eating, and, shocking as it may seem to English farmers, it does not very much matter where an egg emerged so long as it reaches the table in condition that does not affront the consumer, if it was laid in Holland and quickly shipped over —and apparently the spokesman of the Certificated Grocers does not object to Dutch eggs on principle—it might be even better than the Cornish egg that reached‘Lancashire three weeks after the hen had done its best. Rounh as that summary may sound, it yet corresponds with .the test of common experience. But that only suggests that it is the business of railway com-, panies, carriers and wholesale distributors to assist the English egg, its owners, layers, and eaters to a greater extent than they have done in a possibly suspect past.