Shoppers tricked into buying 'bogus' free-range eggs

Millions of shoppers may have been duped into buying bogus free-range eggs, the Government said yesterday.

Up to 30 million battery-farmed eggs are thought to have been passed off as the more expensive and ethical version, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs diclosed.

West Mercia Police arrested three people in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, last month over alleged breaches of egg marketing laws. Officers also executed search warrants at a factory and two homes, and seized equipment and paperwork. Two men and a woman, all in their forties, have been bailed on suspicion of conspiracy to defraud.

The arrests will knock confidence in the supply of free-range eggs which are produced under higher welfare standards than those at battery farms. Defra said in a statement that although the eggs amounted to only one per cent of national production it had decided to publicise the scam "in the public interest".

The allegations centre on the wholesale supply of eggs rather than their production. In meetings this week Defra has asked the egg industry and retailers to satisfy themselves that any illegality had been stamped out.

The RSPCA said it was "appalled" that some eggs may have been incorrectly labelled and said it was concerned the news could hit the free-range market, which accounts for one third of eggs in the UK. The British Egg Industry Council said it was deeply concerned and fully supported the prosecution of anyone found infringing the regulations.

The Food Standards Agency also disclosed that it had found salmonella in one in every 30 boxes of imported eggs on sale in England.