German eggs at Spar: outrage in the local poultry industry

In the current case, large quantities are not involved, but the company is moving away from the long-standing practice of the food trade of using Austrian eggs wherever possible. If other traders follow this example, it would not only put price pressure on farmers, but also undermine Austrian animal welfare and quality standards such as GMO-free production, warned association manager Wurzer.

Currently producing in Austria 7.4 million laying hens produce around 2.3 billion eggs every year40 percent of which goes to Austrian retailers, according to Wurzer. “After Easter, the packing centers will be fully able to deliver again, so the only question is which sales channels the goods will flow into,” he emphasized.

Savings: A full supply of Austrian eggs is still not possible

Spar itself contradicted this representation WHAT-Inquiry. “There is a difference between a certain level of reassurance and full care,” it said in a statement. As before, not all egg orders are actually delivered. “But our mission is to provide the population with enough eggs and as long as we cannot do this with purely local products, we will resort to eggs from Bavaria.”

The trading company also pointed out that the eggs were supplied “by a very good Bavarian model company” and were sold “not throughout Austria, but only where necessary”. The outbreak of bird flu in parts of Europe led to bottlenecks in egg supplies before Christmas and around Easter.

According to Wurzer, sales are currently limited to the “Greater Vienna area”. For him or the farmers, however, it is more about the principle or the “break in the system” that this results in. “Other retail chains are just waiting for someone to take this step,” suspected the industry representative. He therefore appeals to Spar and other supermarket chains to “continue the common quality course”.