In August 2025, the NFU was contacted by the APHA to ask for our input to review and provide feedback on the draft revision of its Egg Quality Standards guidance.
The APHA states that the guide aims to help egg packing centres, inspectors and quality assurance teams to:
- understand the criteria for assessing and grading eggs as Class A or Class B, including which eggs to remove to meet regulatory requirement
- set up and audit grading processes (pre-candling and candling)
- train staff
- meet hygiene and handling rules.
The APHA sought constructive feedback on the draft guidance document, specifically regarding:
- Clarity of the guidance provided.
- Effectiveness in eliminating subjectivity in assessing egg quality faults.
- Usefulness in defining the clear and concise standards for Class A eggs as specified in the relevant regulation.
The APHA was keen to gather feedback from the egg sector to help ensure that the guidance remained both practical and regulatable across the industry.
Trade and membership organisations were asked to gather views from their egg packing members and feed into the review.
Member feedback
The NFU welcomed the opportunity to review the proposed guidance so that the APHA could produce a document that meets its purpose without damaging sector resilience.
Egg packing members provided useful feedback which the NFU included in its response and we noted that, while the guidance is aimed at packing centres, the repercussions of any changes could also be felt by producers and any such impacts should be minimised as much as possible.
A lot of the feedback we provided was based on the purpose and functionality of the document.
Suggestions were made to improve the ease of reading which we thought would promote uptake and understanding of those who need to be familiar with the guidance including egg packing centre staff and EMIs (Egg Marketing Inspectors).
Our suggestions included reducing the length of the overall document, adapting the section containing glossary terms and improving the uniformity of the images.
Concerns were also raised about risk management for implementation and the knock-on impacts across the supply chain, mechanisation and the need to appreciate advances in technology, EMI training and understanding of the appeals process in terms of enforcement.
What happened next
The APHA thanked the NFU for the constructive contributions made during the review of the guidance, saying that it had incorporated our suggestions where appropriate and carefully considered the remainder.
Towards the end of December last year, the NFU was provided with a second draft of the guidance for comment. We again worked with members of the national Poultry Board to provide feedback and submitted our response to the APHA.
At the beginning of March 2026, we were contacted by the APHA to say that the Egg Quality Standards guide was now live and would come into effect from the 6 April 2026. The guidance can be accessed via: GOV.UK | Assessing and grading eggs
The APHA asked the NFU to notify its egg packing members of the revised guidance.
Revised guidance in practice
Egg packers should have received a direct communication from the APHA at the beginning of March 2026 to inform them that the revised guidance had been published.
The APHA has said that EMIs continue to assess faults in line with established practice and inspections remain unchanged. The NFU will be monitoring member feedback on this and if you have any concerns, please do let us know.
What to do if you have further questions
The APHA states that the guidance supports the law rather than replaces it and recommends anyone with questions about the guidance revision to request a session with your local Egg Marketing Inspector.
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