Tag Archives: water-based dyes

Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food Fraud Quick Bites

An ‘Egg-stra’ Splash Of Color

By Susanne Kuehne
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Susanne Kuehne, Decernis
Food fraud, eggs
Find records of fraud such as those discussed in this column and more in the Food Fraud Database. Image credit: Susanne Kuehne

Free-range country chicken eggs, often recognizable by their different color, fetch 30–40% more revenue than eggs from caged hens. Leghorns, a common type of chicken used for mass-production, lay white eggs. In this fraud case in India, leghorn eggs were colored by using water-based dyes, for example, made from tea. The eggs were confiscated and destroyed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and the vendors received a warning.

Resource

  1. Thomas, W. (February 3, 2020). “FSSAI destroys artificially coloured eggs”. The Hindu.