France’s leading egg industry association has issued a warning over the import of hundreds of thousands of eggs from Ukraine, claiming they do not meet European production standards and may contain banned antibiotics.
Since the spring, several batches of Ukrainian eggs labeled with code 3—indicating that the hens were raised in cages—have been sold in various French supermarkets, the National Egg Promotion Committee (CNPO) said in a statement on Thursday. These eggs were found on the shelves of Carrefour and E. Leclerc stores.
E. Leclerc acknowledged in a statement that one of its stores had taken an “unfortunate step,” but described it as an isolated incident that violated the chain’s purchasing policy. The retailer said the store in question had been instructed to immediately withdraw the eggs from sale.
Carrefour, which had also faced criticism from the industry in June for allegedly selling Ukrainian eggs (as seen in a video), said on Thursday that it “does not sell eggs originating in Ukraine.”
Egg sales “have increased by five percent compared to 2024, or around 350 million more eggs compared to last year’s seven billion,” CNPO president Yves-Marie Beaudet told AFP. “We have been able to respond and supply the major retailers.”
He acknowledged that the 300,000 eggs he said were recently imported by E. Leclerc represented a very small quantity, but expressed fear “it may be a test” aimed at obtaining supplies at a lower cost.
