There are enough Manx eggs on island to go round, despite restrictions being put on British egg sales.

Several of the major UK supermarkets have placed restrictions on egg sales.

It was announced this week that Tesco customers are now limited to buying only three boxes of eggs, after Asda and Lidl set similar limits last week. However, the Co-op, Morrison’s and Sainsbury’s have been able to keep up with demand.

This comes after UK poultry farmers battle rising costs and the impact of avian flu which has placed a squeeze on the supply of eggs to supermarkets.

The decisions taken off-island have also impacted the island.

A Tesco spokesperson told the Manx Independent that the rationing of eggs did include the Isle of Man.

Despite this, when we visited the store yesterday, there were no signs indicating that customers were limited to the number of boxes of eggs they could buy.

The Co-op, like in the UK, is not limiting the number of eggs that are on sale.

While some UK suppliers are being impacted by the shortage of eggs, on island, the Department of Environment, Food and Agriculture said it was ‘not aware of any supply issues at present’.

As the only supermarket on the island to sell Manx eggs, Shoprite also confirmed that it wasn’t seeing the same issues that are being reported in the UK.

A spokeswoman said: ‘We haven’t been experiencing supply issues and have no plans to ration sales. If this changes we might have to revisit obviously.’

While in the UK the supermarkets are saying the problem is a supply issue, this is only partially accepted by the National Farmers’ Union.

The NFU said that while the number of eggs available is contributing to price increases, the biggest issue is the spiralling cost to producers as feed and other necessities skyrocket in price.

Poultry board chair James Mottershead said: ‘Ongoing, soaring production costs are putting the British poultry sector under immense pressure.

‘Poultry farmers have been facing skyrocketing energy and feed costs for months now, as well as increases in other input costs including fuel, labour and packaging, which are all adding to the overall costs of production on farm.

‘This escalating situation is causing many to consider their future in the industry.’

The NFU is also asking the UK government to step in and explore the supply chain issues and whether or not farmers are getting a fair deal, with some claiming that despite the price of a dozen eggs rising by about 45p in the supermarkets since March, they’ve only received between 5p to 10p of that increase.