Egg Standards of Australia (ESA)

Comply with this National Egg Quality Assurance program and ensure you provide safe food products

Egg Standards of Australia (ESA)

Egg Standards of Australia (ESA) is a voluntary quality assurance program that has been developed through an extensive consultation process, to provide a practical mechanism to demonstrate compliance with egg primary production and processing standards.

ESA replaced the previous egg industry scheme, Egg Corp Assured (ECA) in November 2018. It provides greater clarity and a more robust set of compliance standards that have been independently reviewed against current Australian customer and regulatory requirements.

This standard has been developed (based on the principles of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)) to provide a compliance framework for egg producers and processors in meeting the needs of regulators, retailers, farmers and egg buyers in areas including hen welfare, egg quality, biosecurity, food safety, work health and safety and environmental management.

The Journey to Certification

ESA covers the industry practices relating to the rearing of pullets, the production of eggs from laying hens, and the grading, processing and packing of eggs. ESA has two Standards:

1. ESA for Rearing and Layer Farms:

It covers the industry practices relating to day old chicks or started pullets to the farm, up to the point of removal of started pullets, spent hens and eggs for human consumption from the farm. This component can be used for the following types of egg production systems: Cage, Barn and Free Range.

The primary objectives of ESA for Rearing and Layer Farms are to:

Set out the requirements for best practice in the production of eggs;
Provide a uniform mechanism for the verification of egg production practices; and
Provide a means of demonstrating best practice and continual improvement.

2. ESA for Grading and Packing Floors:

It covers the general requirements for the collection, grading, washing, packing and delivery of shell eggs as well as the hygienic manufacture, storage, packaging and distribution of egg pulp and egg products for sale or supply for human consumption only. This also covers processors of egg products: fresh liquid whole eggs, egg white, egg yolk/pulp, frozen whole eggs, egg white, egg yolk, dried whole eggs, egg white & yolk, salted & sugared yolks, scrambled egg mix and hard-boiled eggs.

The primary objectives of ESA for Grading and Packing Floors are to:

Produce a safe product for consumers;
Ensure full traceability of shell eggs, egg pulp and egg products; and
Assure both retailer and consumer that shell eggs, egg pulp and egg products are produced and packed to the highest standards.

Levels of ESA

Participation in ESA is voluntary and application for certification is open to all egg farmers. Certification to the Standard(s), however, will only be granted to egg farmers that meet the relevant requirements as set out in the ESA Standard and ESA Rules.

In ESA for Rearing and Laying Farms, each element is classified as Level 1, Level 2 or Level 3, defining the three levels of participation:

Level 1: Entry level participation recommended for egg farmers new to the egg industry and to quality assurance systems.
Level 2: Intermediate level participation recommended for egg farmers with a more developed compliance system and record keeping, designed to meet the requirements of regulators.
Level 3: Advanced level participation for egg farmers with a fully developed compliance system and record keeping in accordance with the requirements of major retail customers.

In ESA for Grading and Packing Floors, each element is classified as Level 2 or Level 3, defining the two levels of participation in:

Level 2: Core requirements for egg farmers to meet Commonwealth, State and Territory food safety requirements.
Level 3: Comprehensive requirements for egg farmers to meet Commonwealth, State and Territory food safety requirements. As well as the requirements of major retail customers.

Why BSI?

BSI believes the world should be supplied with food that has been produced to an industry recognised food safety standard. We offer a broad range of food safety certification and risk management services to help all organizations in the food supply chain achieve compliance and industry best practice to grow their business.

We’re a leading food safety and certification provider with extensive auditing capacity and the capability to conduct integrated audits for a wide range of food safety standards across the entire food and beverage supply chain – including GFSI-recognized standards.

Our service solution for food safety includes certification, training, assessment and supply chain software, providing you and your customer’s assurance and enabling you to manage risk more effectively.