What does the number on eggs really mean?

When shopping in supermarkets, it is necessary to pay attention to certain information to make the right choices. Among the foods to watch out for, we naturally think of eggs.

Indeed, in order to best inform consumers about the origin of the eggs they buy in stores, a law requires the presence of a code on the shell. Here’s what you need to know about this series of numbers and letters!

Made up of a series of numbers and letters, the code visible in print on the egg shell allows future buyers to find out more about the eggs they are about to purchase.

The first number in this series is one of the most important. Between 0 and 3, it indicates the mode of egg production.

Number 3 indicates that the chickens are “raised in cages”, a breeding method which involves not exposing the animals to the outside and slaughtering the animals after a year…

Eggs categorized as 2 come from hens “raised on the ground”, that is to say from birds that have been able to benefit from a larger living space and above all open to the outside. Although these hens remain slaughtered after 1 year of laying, there are fewer of them per m2.

From number 1, the conditions for raising chickens are improved because they are raised “in the open air”. As a result, the eggs are of better quality and the hens live longer and in better conditions.

Finally, when an egg is rated in category 0, this means that it comes from organic farming. In addition to a number of hens limited to 6,000 birds per farm, farmers must respect higher specifications and in particular feed their animals with at least 90% organic food.

But in addition to this code for categorizing the type of breeding, other information is present on the egg shell. Indeed, after the first number of the line corresponding to the method of raising the chickens, two letters are generally present and indicate the country of origin. Finally, this line ends with a set of numbers corresponding to the producer code. Remember that the information on the bottom line indicates the best before date (BED) for this carton of eggs.