skip ad

Food officials are investigating an alleged eggs mislabelling scam.

As many as 500 million battery farmed eggs may have been sold at premium or free range prices over the last five years as part of the alleged con.

Government officials said the fraud may be ten times bigger than first thought when it emerged four months ago.

Enforcement officers are trying to unravel a complex supply network to find out who masterminded the operation.

It is believed that at least ten 44-tonne lorries travelled into the UK every week, each carrying about 224,000 mislabelled eggs.

They now want to speak to a man caught on CCTV trying to access a safety deposit box in Kensington, west London.

Officers believe the man, in his 50s or 60s, may be able to lead them to those behind the scam.

An investigation into the mislabelling of eggs was launched last November.

A raid took place at a West Midlands egg packing firm where equipment and paperwork were seized.

Three people - two men and a woman - in their 40s, who were arrested in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, on suspicion of fraud, remain on bail.

Free-range and organic eggs can sell for around twice the price of eggs produced in battery farms.

In 2005, 1,430,000 eggs were imported into the UK where the total egg market is worth £514 million, according to the British Egg Information Service.

About a third of all eggs sold are free-range, of which just 3 per cent are also organic, the industry group said.

© Independent Television News Limited 2007. All rights reserved.