Egg producers step up food aid

Egg producers around the world have been contributing to food aid programmes.

According to research by the International Egg Commission, more than 17m eggs have been donated in the past 12 months to hunger relief charities working in Central America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa and Europe.

Following the earthquake in Haiti, for example, American egg producers donated more than 3m eggs to the charity set up to help feed the survivors. And during the past 12 months, the Canadian egg sector has sent 16t of powdered egg as far afield as Asia and Africa.

The IEC research has also found that Indian egg producers support many of the country’s schools, hospitals and orphanages by donating eggs while, in Thailand, Italy, Finland and the Czech Republic, egg farmers donate thousands of eggs to charitable institutions and food programmes every year.

With World Egg Day looming (8 October), the IEC is working closely with the Food and Agriculture Organisation, to address the problem of how the world will feed its growing population.

“Research from the Food and Agriculture Organisation predicts that our global population will increase by a staggering 2.5bn people during the next 40 years,” said International Egg Commission chairman Frank Pace. “We know that 1bn of the current population is already undernourished, so finding a way to feed another 2.5bn is a huge challenge.”

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