Authorities are investigating the possibility that about 150 farms in northern Germany falsely claimed their eggs were from free-range chickens.
Prosecutors in the city of Oldenburg suspect the farms sold the eggs as organic or free-range when they didn't truly meet the labeling requirements. Regulations require a minimum of four square meters of space for each animal for a poultry farm to be able to sell its products as "free range." It has now emerged that several farmers kept more animals than permitted, selling the eggs for a higher price than they otherwise could because of the free-range status.
A spokesman for the country's consumer protection ministry told sources on February 25 that if suspicions are confirmed it would constitute a "large-scale fraud."
