Barn egg production has increased significantly in the past two years, according to data published this month by Defra.
197,000 cases of barn egg were packed in Q1 of 2020, compared to 136,000 in the same period of 2019.
The total number of barn egg cases packed in 2019 was 601,000, up from 346,000 in 2017.
As more producers convert production from enriched colony cages before the 2025 deadline when UK supermarkets have decided to stop selling caged egg, other methods of production are starting to increase. Tesco has committed to offering barn eggs as a value option, although other retailers including Sainsbury’s and Morrisons have switched to 100% free range.
At the same time, colony egg production has declined. The data shows 3,326,000 cases of colony egg were packed in the first quarter of 2020, compared to 3,404,000 in the first quarter of 2019.
Free-range is the most dominant production system in UK packing stations, with 4,032,000 cases packed in Q1 of 2020.
