Egg marketing in national supermarkets: Products, packaging, and prices - Part 3

As part of a national retail egg quality study, the variety of shell eggs a nd egg products offered for sale, type of packaging and price relationships were compared in five major metropolitan regions. A total of 81 stores in 28 cities were sampled in California (CA), Illinois (IL), North Carolina (N C), Texas (TX), and New England (NE). Data were recorded for the variety of brands, sizes, white or brown shell eggs, specialty eggs, liquid or frozen eggs, carton sizes, package labeling and Coding, and price relationships o f shell eggs, liquid, and frozen egg products displayed for sale. The total variety of shell eggs displayed per store was the greatest for CA and NE stores. Stores in CA and TX offered more (P < 0.05) variety of whit e shell eggs than did stores in the other states, whereas stores in NE disp layed the greatest variety (P < 0.05) of brown shell eggs. The average numb er of liquid and frozen egg products was highest (P < 0.05) for NC stores. Packaging type, USDA labeling, and carton coding differed somewhat among st ates. The price per one dozen cartons of all white shell egg sizes was high est (P < 0.05) in CA stores, and the average liquid plus frozen egg product prices were higher in CA and NE stores compared to the other states. Howev er, the ratio of liquid and frozen product prices to all large shell egg pr ices was among the lowest for CA and NC stores. These data indicate that pr oduct Selection, packaging, and consumer prices for shell eggs and egg prod ucts varied considerably across five separate regions of the country.