A new policy mandating the inscription of the egg-laying date on eggshells will be implemented starting Saturday, the government said Thursday.

Under the new policy, egg farms must indicate the four-digit code of the date the egg was laid in front of the six-digit code that represents the farm and breeding environment. 

The policy aims to prevent old eggs from being distributed in the market and reassure people they are consuming fresh eggs.

Hitherto, some farms calculated a carton of eggs’ expiration date based on the packaging date, as it was not mandatory to inform customers of the laying date.

The unclear system often raised safety issues, as some farms stored eggs until prices went up.

The government will give a six-month grace period for egg farms to implement the new policy.

Since April 2018, the government has required egg farms to inscribe a six-digit code on the eggshells, which offers information on the farm and how the chickens were bred. Consumers can track the data via a website run by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety.

By Park Ju-young (jupark@heraldcorp.com)