What does the code on the egg mean?

In order to ensure that all eggs can be traced back to the laying hen house, there has been a Europe-wide labelling requirement for eggs since 2004. The stamp on the egg must indicate the farming method, origin and laying house number.

The first digit with the value from 0 to 3 of the imprint stands for the farming method of the laying hens:

0 = organic production
1 = Free range production
2 = barn management
3 = cage farming

The following letters are the country code for the country of origin of the eggs,
e.g.:

DE = Germany
NL = Netherlands
FR = France
PL = Poland
AT = Austria

The following 2 digits give information about the respective federal state in which the laying farm is located,
e.g.:

07 = Rhineland Palatinate
08 = Baden-Würtemberg
09 = Bavaria
10 = Saarland

The next 4 digits stand for the farm number and the last digit is the barn number of the laying farm.