Eggs and poultry
Legislation in the eggs and poultry sector
Marketing standards
These regulations prescribe minimum harmonised standards to facilitate trade and to ensure EU consumers are provided with good quality fresh and frozen poultrymeat produced to a common standard.
The Regulations cover grading by quality, condition of presentation, labelling, extraneous water content, and Special Marketing Term criteria which must be met before certain claims about types of farming can be made (e.g. free range, barn, etc).
Council Regulation 1907/90 and Commission Regulation 1274/91 (both as amended) prescribe minimum harmonised standards to facilitate trade and to ensure EU consumers are provided with good quality hen eggs produced to a common standard.
The Regulations cover the following areas:
- grading by quality and weight (eg Class A and Class B)
- packing
- storage and transport
- labelling and marking of eggs and packs
- Special Marketing Term (SMT) criteria which must be met before certain claims about types of farming can be made (e.g. free range, barn)
The text of the Regulation is available on the Europa website.
Page last modified: 23 March 2006