Egg Boxes
Egg boxes are familiar to most people, as they are the main type of container that eggs are transported and sold in. They come in a variety of different materials, and also in a variety of different sizes depending on the size and number of eggs being transported or sold. Small, medium, large and extra-large eggs can be accommodated, and since eggs are usually sold in multiples of six, egg boxes that can hold 6 eggs (a half-dozen), 12 eggs (a dozen) and even 24 eggs (two dozen) are common. Due to supermarket requirements, though, new sizes of egg box are starting to appear, with boxes that can hold 10 eggs, 18 eggs (one and a half dozen) and 30 eggs (two and a half dozen) being sold.
Polystyrene Egg Boxes
Though egg boxes may be made from a variety of different materials, polystyrene egg boxes (also known as polystyrene egg cartons or poly egg boxes) are becoming more and more popular with egg producers. The main benefits of egg box foam are that they are both lightweight and cheap, allowing the producer to reduce packaging costs. Some producers, though, hold them to be too flimsy, and producers of organic or free range eggs can dislike polystyrene egg boxes due to polystyrene’s origin as an artificially engineered substance: they feel that this can subtract from their drive to market their eggs as naturally produced.
Polystyrene egg boxes can also be used in chicken hatcheries, albeit in a modified form. Rather than containing eggs for the purposes of transport or sale, the egg boxes here are designed to hold the eggs until they hatch. Like other egg boxes they come in a variety of sizes, being able to hold small, medium, large and extra-large eggs, and are robust enough to last through incubation to hatching. They may not be re-used, however, and must be responsibly disposed of after the chickens have hatched.
Other Materials
In addition to polystyrene, egg boxes can be made from a number of other materials. Plastic egg boxes are used by the type of egg producers and suppliers that use Styrofoam or polystyrene egg boxes, while recycled paper egg boxes are more often used by free range and organic egg producers and distributors. Molded pulp egg boxes (made via a process similar to papier-mâché) are also popular.
Egg Box Labels
One of the main ways that producers display information about their eggs is via the egg box label. These egg box labels should contain information about the origin of the eggs including the address of the producer, the size of the eggs, as well as information about the eggs themselves (e.g. whether they are organic, free range, barn eggs, etc). Egg box labels should also contain a key to the information stamped on the egg.
Egg Stamp
By law eggs are stamped with certain information, allowing the consumer to determine certain things about the egg based on the stamp key. This key should be included on the egg box. The stamp is in the following form:
tcc ppppp
Where t = the egg type, cc = the country of origin and ppppp = the producer’s ID number. The egg types can be broken down as 0 = organic, 1 = free range, 2 = barn and 3 = cage. As an example:
1UK 12345
This refers to a free range egg produced in the UK by the producer with the ID number of 12345.