From Farm to Plate

Step 1. - Washing and Oiling

Every day at farms across the country eggs are collected and placed into plastic trays and packed on pallets which are transported via refrigerated trucks to our local production facility closest to the farms for packing.

At our production facilities, the eggs are picked up from the plastic trays by suction heads and placed onto a conveyor belt.   At this point in the process they are washed and cleaned to remove any dirt that may have been picked up at the farm.

Once cleaned the eggs are passed through a reoiling station where a micro fine mist of oil recoates the clean egg.

Step 2. - QA Testing

Random samples are taken and these eggs are checked by the Quality Control Department.

The egg is broken out on to a level surface and the height of the thick albumen (egg white) is measured. This measurement is correlated with the weight of the egg to give a haugh unit measurement.

Eggs that do not have the correct haugh measurement are not packed as First Quality Eggs.

Egg yolk colour is also measured at this time. The colour of the egg yolk has no bearing on the nutritional content of the egg.

Step 3. - Candling

During candling each egg rotates over a strong light source which enables the operator to see inside the egg and look for any internal defects as well as shell defects.

There is a button next to each egg. If a defect is found in the egg, such as a blood spot or a hairline crack in the shell, the operator presses a button next to the egg.  This button is linked to an electronic sensor in the machine which makes sure that this egg is not sent to the First Quality packing shutes.

Step 4. - Grading and Packing

The grading machine weighs each egg electronically and automatically directs it to the correct weight packing shute. These eggs are then packed into egg cartons and stamped with a best before date.  These eggs are then placed into outer cartons which run down the conveyor belt and are sealed.

The packaged eggs are then moved into a large temperature controlled coolroom, where they are stored until they are delivered to a retailer distribution centre for sale at local supermarkets.