Delia Smith helps egg farmer win case

AN EGG farmer who won a court battle over Brussels red tape paid tribute yesterday to the television cook Delia Smith.

Martin Pitt was accused by the Ministry of Agriculture of breaking EU rules by labelling eggs laid on his farm near Marlborough, Wiltshire, with the period they were laid instead of their use-by dates.

But armed with a copy of Delia Smith's How to Cook, he managed to persuade magistrates he was not guilty.

After unscrambling the complex rules surrounding the case, magistrates dismissed the charges.

Mr Pitt said: "When you listen to Delia Smith or read her books she stresses that it's not the sell-by date that's important. She says that eggs have to be a certain age for certain uses, for example an egg which is to be soft boiled needs to be five days old.

"How can shoppers know how old their eggs are unless the period in which they are laid is put on the box - and that is what I have been doing."