THE FIRM hit with a £47,700 fine for breaching egg regulations said it had worked ‘open, honestly and transparently’ with Government inspectors.

Noble Foods was handed the fine by an Oxford district judge after it admitted nine breaches of egg marketing regulations.

As reported by the Oxford Mail, the breaches related to issues in large eggs being sent to major retailers marketed as Class A eggs. The problems, which included cracked or folded shells and only concerned eggs packaged at the company’s plant in Standlake, near Witney, did not affect food safety.

The company has now released a statement on the case, explaining that during 2019 it had seen a higher rate of micro cracks on the surface of its shells.

“Micro cracks cannot be seen with the naked eye and only impacts the surface quality of the shell, without affecting food safety,” a spokeswoman said.

“The issue was limited to one packing line and we immediately took steps when we saw the results. Over the next six months we set about renewing and replacing equipment and since the completion of the work in February 2020, we have not seen a recurrence of the problem.

“In adjudicating the case, the judge stated that it was very clear to her that the case didn’t give rise to a risk of health. She recognised that we had made significant attempts to identify causes that weren’t readily identifiable, took significant steps to resolve the problem and that we had a long history of compliance.”

She added: “From the very start of the case, we’ve accepted our responsibility and the judge was impressed by the level of co-operation we gave Defra in investigating the situation.

“We have worked openly, honestly and transparently with the regulators and we are pleased to say that since the challenges of 2019 there have been no recurrences.”

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