Officials of the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) in Coimbatore on Sunday destroyed 3,900 leghorn eggs that were artificially coloured to look like eggs of country chicken, which are superior in terms of quality.
They found that the sellers were using colourants, including decoction of tea, to give the brownish tint to the egg shell.
K. Tamilselvan, Designated Officer of the FSSAI in Coimbatore, said that simultaneous checks were conducted at various markets namely the whole sale fish market and retail fish market at Ukkadam, Uzhavar Santhais at Vadavalli, Singanallur and R.S. Puram, and MGR Market Anna Market on Mettupalayam Road.
ADVERTISEMENT
“The checks were conducted based on a complaint which said that vendors were selling white leghorn eggs as country chicken eggs after colouring them. Food Safety officers found that egg sold by at least 10 vendors were coloured white leghorn eggs. A total of 3,900 coloured eggs were seized and destroyed,” he said.
According to Dr. Tamilselvan, most of these vendors were procuring white leghorn eggs of small size from poultries in Namakkal and Salem and later colouring them to give the effect of country chicken eggs.
“While one leghorn egg is sold for ₹5 to ₹5.50, the vendors were selling coloured eggs for ₹7 and above.
ADVERTISEMENT
They were selling such coloured eggs as eggs of free-range country chicken which is superior to eggs laid by chicken grown in farm,” he said.
Food Safety officials did spot checks to find the adulteration by soaking suspected eggs in water and the colour was found dissolving in the water. Apart from destroying the 3,900 coloured eggs, officials warned the vendors not to sell adulterated eggs in the future.