Caution: Eggs contain Egg

“Beware: The daft egg-box warning that contents 'may contain eggs'” reports Helen Dowd in the Mail online (Jan. 24, 2009):

In these health-conscious times food companies are increasingly keen to warn consumers if ingredients may cause allergic reactions.

 But one firm has gone a step further by advising shoppers that its boxes of eggs contain...egg.

 The Happy Egg Company’s six-pack of eggs – which features the company’s name and is decorated with a picture of an egg and a cartoon chicken – contains the message ‘allergy advice: contains egg’ inside the lid of the boxes. . . .

 The firm initially claimed that supermarkets’ strict labelling criteria were to blame for the overzealous warning.

 A spokesman said: ‘Some retailers insist on this information within their packs as part of a due diligence procedure. Any products deemed as potentially allergenic are included in this. A crazy world, but occasionally we have to do silly things to cover ourselves.’

Later The Happy Egg Company  admitted it had chosen to print the advice of its own volition – after the supermarkets involved said they only demand producers comply with the law – adding: ‘We have to state the obvious to cover all eventualities.’

But bizarrely, the company has not printed the warning in its boxes of ten eggs. . . .

The Happy Egg Company is sticking to its story that this labeling was to be precautionary.  However, this “Allergy Advice” is so ridiculously overzealous, I  am guessing that the label reflects its designer's wit. Moreover, this is from the United Kingdom, not the US. So you cannot blame this one on Bill Marler and US tort law. I can almost see this as a Monty Python skit. 

Thanks to Katherine Teodosic for alerting me to this one.