Eggs-traordinary

A history of Sainsbury's eggs

Eggs were one of only three products John James and Mary Ann Sainsbury sold when they opened their first branch in Drury Lane in 1869. Over the last 150 years Sainsbury’s has undergone countless changes, but eggs have remained an important food. This article will look at various aspects of the history of this product, including how eggs have been supplied, packaged, marketed and sold.

 

‘New Laid Eggs’

As Sainsbury’s grew in the 19^th century it became necessary to ensure a regular supply of good quality fresh eggs at a competitive price. English eggs had a poor reputation as consumers were sometimes eating them several weeks after they had been laid. Danish, Dutch and French eggs were preferred thanks to regular schemes of collection from farms in those countries, but some eggs arrived from as far afield as Russia, Egypt and China. This would gradually change thanks in large part to the work of John James and Mary Ann’s son Frank, whose obituary in the Sainsbury’s staff magazine ‘JS Journal’ describes him as ‘a pioneer in the English Egg Packing Industry’.

 

Early in life Frank Sainsbury had found that working in the shops of the family business did not suit him nearly as well as farming. He first supplied Sainsbury’s with eggs from his farm in Suffolk in 1902, and ten years later set up Britain’s first egg collecting depot at Little Wratting, following continental European examples. Fresh eggs were taken here on horse-drawn carts from local farms to be inspected and then promptly despatched by rail to Sainsbury’s head depot in Blackfriars, ready for distribution to the branches.

 

When eggs arrived at the counter service shops staff would check them again. Branch rule books from 1914 and the 1930s explain the necessary procedures, which included ‘candling’ (holding them up against a light to check for defects). Eggs were then displayed outside the shopfront in large wooden crates or wicker baskets lined with hay or straw. The youngest members of a branch’s staff, known as ‘egg lads’, were responsible for selling them. Staff registers show that these boys were sometimes as young as 12 or 13. Standing outside all day in winter could be miserable, and sometimes the eggs even froze in their shells, but egg lads were at least given cocoa to warm them up! The experience of salesmanship and handling money provided a foundation upon which egg lads could build long and successful careers with Sainsbury’s, many of them rising to become branch managers.

 

During the First World War Sainsbury’s found it much more difficult to source fresh eggs from overseas. Eggs which had been pickled raw or preserved in waterglass provided an alternative.

 

After the war Frank Sainsbury set up more egg collecting and packing ‘stations’, as they were known, in Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshire and Lincolnshire. At one time Sainsbury’s was supplied by around 40 such stations. Eggs also came from Devon, the home of longstanding supplier Lloyd Maunder. Sainsbury’s proudly advertised its excellent links with farmers and the economies of scale which brought prices down.

 

For much of the Second World War fresh eggs were allocated so most people could only buy around thirty a year. Expectant mothers, children and invalids could have more. Dried eggs were supplied in large quantities from the USA. The rules around rationing were complicated and Sainsbury’s issued ‘Branch Rationing Guides’ to help staff navigate them.

 

Egg rationing did not end until 1953. ‘JS Journal’ celebrated the return of plentiful supplies by printing a range of imaginative recipes, including ‘Alpine Eggs’, ‘Curried Eggs’ and ‘Egg Savoury Puffs’.

 

‘Our mutual benefit’

1953 was also the year Sainsbury’s ‘took over direct control’ of the East Anglian egg packing stations developed by Frank Sainsbury. Producers packed thirty dozen eggs into Sainsbury’s boxes and a motorized van now came to collect them. If every box was full each van could transport over 30,000 eggs. Lorries marked ‘J. Sainsbury Egg Collecting Service’ drove between the stations and Blackfriars, and these could each hold well over 100,000 eggs.

 

Candling was no longer the responsibility of the branches as it was all done at the packing stations or at Blackfriars (for imported eggs). Electric lightbulbs replaced candles, but it remained ‘a skilled job’ requiring ‘both concentration and the confidence which can only come with long practical experience’.

 

Operatives worked alongside ever-advancing technology. The packing station at Kenninghall, near Norwich, was ‘the largest and best equipped in Europe’ when it opened in 1958. The 1963 corporate film ‘Shopping Day: a 24-hour look at J. Sainsbury’ shows the high degree of mechanisation (egg collecting can be seen 5 minutes 45 seconds into the film, and Kenninghall is featured 7 minutes in).

 

Sainsbury’s long experience in selling eggs enabled a complicated operation to run highly efficiently. Eggs became more affordable and available throughout the year.

 

Sainsbury’s was as concerned about the quality of its eggs as the quantity. It issued guidance to producers so fewer eggs would be classed as ‘second quality’ or rejected altogether.

 

The company was keen to maintain good relations with egg producers, inviting them to tour packing stations and setting up the ‘Sainsbury Egg Group’ in 1961. By then small part-time suppliers were being ‘gradually replaced by the larger specialist producer’; in 1965 ‘JS Journal’ reported that ‘British Egg Marketing Board registered producers actively sending eggs to packing stations have halved since 1957 to a current level of about 150,000’. The same article also highlights how Sainsbury’s sold both white and brown eggs at this time, as each had advantages and disadvantages for producers. The colour of eggs ‘depends simply on the breed of bird’.

 

In 1970 a joint company, ‘Sainsbury-Spillers Ltd.’, was formed to operate all the egg packing stations along with a poultry packing station at Bury St. Edmunds. Sainsbury’s was expanding rapidly and its annual report stated that the joint venture would ‘strengthen further our trading position in the highly competitive egg and poultry industries’ and ‘assure the increase in supplies that the future growth of our trade will require’. A decade later Sainsbury’s sold its shareholding and the company was renamed ‘Quinton Farms’, although it continued to be one of Sainsbury’s main egg suppliers.

 

‘The knotty problem’

The way Sainsbury’s has packaged eggs has evolved throughout its history. In the days of counter service customers who only wanted one or a few were served them loose in different sized paper bags. You had to be careful not to break them on your way home!

 

In the 1930s the Victoria branch, given its proximity to the railway station, sold eggs wrapped in brown paper and tied with string ‘Packed for Travelling’.

 

Cardboard boxes were reserved for multiples of a dozen.

 

This started to change in the 1950s. Rationing was ending so Sainsbury’s was selling more eggs, and increasingly doing so in its new self-service shops. Whereas in counter service branches most foods were unwrapped, self-service required nearly everything to be pre-packed so customers could take items off the shelves and put them in baskets. ‘JS Journal’ described packaging eggs for self-service as a ‘knotty problem’. Film bags ‘could not be considered successful from the aspect of protection’, so Sainsbury’s turned to cartons. Both cartons and bags of eggs can be seen on display in a photograph of an early self-service branch in Eastbourne.

 

The four-pack carton appears to have been rather flimsy. But the ‘JS Journal’ article repeatedly emphasises the need for ‘visibility’ in egg packaging. Shoppers accustomed to displays of loose eggs in counter service branches wanted to see the product and check its condition. It was not easy to find a design which protected the eggs and showed them clearly.

 

In 1956 the four-pack was replaced by a new ‘France Oeuf’ carton. This design provided ‘excellent visibility and at the same time extremely good protection and moreover the French inventors have produced a machine which enables the cartons to be filled at a very much higher rate than they could be by hand’. Two of these machines were installed at Sainsbury’s Wisbech packing station.

 

The ‘France Ouef’ carton was more suitable for stacking than its predecessor.

 

The next few years saw more designs trialled. The visibility of the egg remained important.

 

Some eggs were bound to be broken, but Sainsbury’s packaged them up and sold them ‘for immediate use’ so they did not go to waste.

 

Sometime in the 1960s a carton appeared resembling the ones in use today. The instructions for unpacking it from larger boxes show it was strong enough to be turned upside down.

 

But shortly afterwards plastic packaging seems to have replaced cardboard. Plastic may have been preferred by some because it showed the eggs inside while fully enclosing them.

 

In 1977 Sainsbury’s had to redesign its packaging to account for new European Economic Community rules affecting the sizes of eggs. Customers could now choose between five colour coded ‘grades’ which replaced the old categories ‘large, standard, medium, and small’. A conversion chart ‘specially designed’ by Sainsbury’s was displayed in stores to help customers find the eggs they required. These numbered sizes remained in use until the 1990s.

 

Nutritional labelling first appeared inside ‘a new, flat-topped egg box’ in 1986. 

 

Cardboard cartons re-emerged in the 1990s and soon were being made from recycled material.

 

‘Good eggs, no cages’

‘JS Journal’ noted in 1953 that egg producers used both ‘free-range deep litter and battery methods and there is a good deal of argument about the best way of getting eggs’. But in the next couple of decades ‘battery’, or caged, hens became the norm. The concept of ‘free range’ did not receive significant attention until the 1980s. A court decision that birds qualifying as free range ‘must be reared at a density of under 150 per acre’ led to fears that ‘true free-range eggs’ would ‘disappear from the shelves’. The lack of land available for hens to roam over was one major concern, with Sainsbury’s egg buyer suggesting that ‘to house the 45 million birds required to supply the UK market an area the size of Berkshire would be needed’. But the company persisted and in 1983 became ‘the first large retailer to market free range eggs’ in a small number of its branches.

 

The ‘demise of the cooked breakfast’ and fears of salmonella poisoning saw sales of eggs decline in the late 1980s. Sainsbury’s provided leaflets so customers could easily follow government guidance. The British egg industry subsequently developed the ‘Lion Quality mark’ guaranteeing ‘the highest standards of food safety in the world’. Sainsbury’s own work on egg safety led to the introduction in 2001 of ‘in-shell pasteurised eggs’ which were ‘absolutely guaranteed salmonella-free’.

 

Free range eggs were widely available by the 1990s. Boxes stated that hens were ‘allowed to roam and feed freely’. In 1993 Sainsbury’s started printing ‘laid on’ dates on egg shells ‘to assure customers of freshness’. 

 

Organic eggs went on sale in 1997. ‘JS Journal’ noted that ‘The chickens are reared on organic British farms and are fed on 100 per cent natural feed’.

 

Sainsbury’s recipe cards promoted the use of free range and organic eggs.

 

In 2003 Sainsbury’s launched Woodland Eggs, laid by hens which spent their time in ‘a more natural habitat’ under the shade of trees and hedges. Thousands of trees were soon being planted on farms in partnership with the Woodland Trust, and birds were found to ‘remain much calmer’ in environments resembling the jungles their ancestors came from. In 2004 Sainsbury’s was named as the year’s ‘Good Egg’ in the British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) Awards, which recognised ‘excellence in the promotion and sale of free range eggs’. By this time free range and organic eggs accounted for over half of the company’s egg sales. Five years later Sainsbury’s stopped selling eggs from caged birds, becoming ‘the first major retailer to make this commitment’. In 2019 it announced that all eggs it sold – ‘around 800 million eggs a year’ – would be free range by April 2020.