Unprecedented demand and a shortage of eggs has led Tesco to stock more of the rarer white variety. The eggs have been part of the chain's standard egg range since early 2020 and customers are starting to see them more and more.
They were initially introduced because more people were eating at home as well as baking at the start of the pandemic. Tesco saw demand for eggs rocket by 30%. There are currently issues around the supply of eggs to supermarkets with stores, like Tesco, putting limits on the number customers can buy. Read more about the issues here.
Now, following an initial trial, Tesco decided continue to sell white free range eggs which had normally been for the restaurant trade, especially fast food chains like McDonalds who use them in their Breakfast Wrap snack.
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Up until the early 1970s white eggs – which are generally medium sized - were popular in the UK but they fell out of favour by the end of the decade when shoppers began switching to the brown variety which tend to be larger, and there was a misconception that white eggs were lower quality.
Since the 1980s the British industry has produced almost 100% brown shelled eggs for high street retailers.
At the time they were introduced in 2020, Tesco eggs buying manager Megan Kilby said: “The initial trial during the lockdown was a success and we are now stocking white free range eggs for the first time in more than 40 years.
“These eggs are used throughout the restaurant industry so shoppers can be assured of their quality. The move could also have a massive agricultural benefit as white hens are more docile than brown ones and lay eggs for longer and more reliably too.”
There are very few white egg-laying flocks now in the UK with an estimated 250,000-300,000 out of the 40 million egg-laying birds in the UK.
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