A Bad Egg

Written by SuenMike Thursday, 11 March 2010 17:22

It seems like every other day there is an article in the paper regarding some travesty in the food industry.  Today’s article in the Guardian, “Egg boss jailed for ‘free range’ fraud” (written by Helen Pidd) is like most – a product being sold by lying about its quality.

His name is Keith Owen of Heart of England Eggs Unlimited and for three years, he sold battery hen eggs as free-range, thus enabling a huge mark-up.  He made a £3m pound profit.

I liked this quote from Owen’s lawyer, John Kelsey-Fry QC: “It’s not the case that all those who Mr Owen supplied eggs were concerned to ensure that the provenance of the eggs was as described.”

Oh, so it was the supermarkets’ fault was it?!?   Like Owen was a victim, or complicent in someone else’s crime?  Hardly.   

Pidd also reports that Owen not only passed off battery hen eggs as free-range, he also passed off “industrial eggs”, eggs that do not pass minimal quality standards and are instead destined for processed foods.  

One thing that lies at the heart of this is just pure greed.  I mean, £3m profit is a lot of money.  If Owen had just been content with a good living, say, £50 – 75K a year, he wouldn’t have had to engage in illegal activity to get that millions of pounds.  Now this obviously talented businessman can’t be a company director for seven years.  What will he do during those seven years?  Hopefully a lot of soul-searching.