GET CRACKING

With a wide range boasting of value-added qualities, The Sunday Times finds out what is the difference between the many locally farmed eggs

- Cherie Lok

To shop for eggs in Singapore is to be met with a wall of choice. They come fresh and processed. From as far away as Ukraine or as near as Lim Chu Kang. Some are packed with omega-3, others enhanced with lutein.

Decisions, decisions. How did these "designer" eggs come to be? And, more importantly, do they taste any different?

With the production of local eggs on the rise—farms here were responsible for 34.4 per cent of eggs consumed in 2024, up from 31.9 per cent in 2023—The Sunday Times speaks to Singapore's three local egg farms to crack the code.

MAY THE BEST BRAND WIN

At the farms in Lim Chu Kang, production runs like clockwork, with humans and machines working in tandem to churn out hundreds of thousands of eggs a day.

That number could be greater. Seng Choon Farm is operating only at around 85 per cent capacity, as is Chew's Agriculture. N&N Agriculture is at 90 per cent capacity.

The only thing holding them back is the demand for eggs, which farmers say is on a downward trend. In the case of Chew's Agriculture, sales have dropped by around 10 to 15 per cent over the last few months, says general manager Chew Zi Xuan, 38.

In September 2023, Turkey became Singapore's 19th egg source. It joins countries such as Thailand, Australia and Poland in feeding the hunger here for the low-cost, versatile protein.

In line with the Republic's 30 by 30 vision, in which Singapore aspires to produce 30 per cent of nutritional needs locally by 2030, a third of its egg supply is currently produced domestically. Then Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment Koh Poh Koon pointed to this statistic as a bright spot amid agri-food challenges in his Committee of Supply speech in March.