Salmonella risk profile of UK-produced hen shell eggs: Appendix

7.1 UK assurance schemes

The Lion Code of Practice states:

• all Lion hens and eggs guaranteed British
• hens vaccinated against Salmonella Enteritidis and Salmonella Typhimurium
• registration and a unique 'passport' system, ensuring complete traceability of hens, eggs and feed
• increased hygiene controls and Salmonella testing of all flocks in the integrated egg production chain, in excess of the National Control Programme, including turnaround swabbing of breeding, pullet rearing and laying flocks; and packing centre hygiene swabbing
• regular egg testing (not included in National Control Programme)
• stringent feed controls, including production of feed to Universal Feed Assurance Scheme (UFAS) standards
• Lion Quality eggs stamped on farm with the farm code and production method
• best-before date and Lion logo printed on the shell of Lion Quality eggs as well as on the egg box
• regular independent auditing, including unannounced audits, of all producers and packers in the Lion scheme, in accordance with the ISO 17065 standard.

The Laid in Britain code of practice was updated in August 2021 and states:

• prior to joining the Laid in Britain assurance scheme, all producers must be audited to this Code and compliance assessed. Any non-compliances must be rectified before acceptance to the scheme.
• all producers will be robustly audited on an annual basis by an independent and suitably trained auditor. Any critical non-compliance will result in immediate suspension from the scheme, until rectified and verified. Any non-critical non-compliance must be rectified in a timescale agreed with the scheme.
• in addition to the critical non-compliances, any producer who fails to have a robust protocol for traceability and recall will be immediately suspended from the scheme.