Giant Food adds tracking codes to eggs

CARLISLE, Pa. Giant Food Stores and Martin's Food Markets are helping customers easily identify egg freshness.

The Ahold-own chains have etched freshness dates and tracking codes on the shells of all store-brand and the private label Nature's Promise eggs.

The initiative was launched with EggFusion and local suppliers and, according to Giant's Web site, "is the first and only USDA-accepted solution for applying permanent, tamperproof marks to eggs."

Customers looking to find out when an individual egg was packed can do so by visiting www.GiantFreshEgg.com and entering its tracking code. The Web site also provides information on the name of the plant that packed the egg and where it is located, as well as the name of its distributor.