By IANS
Chennai : Egg lovers with a heart condition need no longer fear their favourite food. A Coimbatore-based company has introduced a designer egg fortified with Vitamin E and Omega 3 acids, whose yolk the company says holds 24 percent less cholesterol than normal table eggs.
Suguna Poultry Farm Ltd, based in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, has also introduced another branded egg fortified with Vitamin E, organic selenium and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), an essential fatty acid present in breast milk.
The Rs.15-billion turnover company that forayed into the branded egg segment early this year launched the two new brands, Suguna Heart and Suguna Active, here Thursday.
“Suguna Active contains high levels of DHA, Vitamin E and organic selenium needed by children, pregnant women, lactating mothers and all adults. The Suguna Heart eggs are enriched with Omega 3 fatty acids and Vitamin E,” K. Ravindran, general manager, sales and marketing, Suguna Poultry, told the media.
He said Omega 3 fatty acids help in decreasing serum triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol in the blood.
“The egg yolk has 24 percent less cholesterol than normal table eggs,” he said.
Suguna Active and Suguna Heart are available for Rs.47 and Rs.52.80 a dozen, respectively.
“The branded eggs are available in all big retail chains and big provision stores in Tamil Nadu, Bangalore and Hyderabad,” he said.
Designer eggs are the outcome of feeding hens with customised food to get them to lay eggs with desired properties.
Ravindran said branded eggs cost more because the special feed costs 35 percent more than normal chicken feed.
“As this is a branded product, we see that eggs are of uniform size and weight (55-60 grams). As a result, the yield rate is just 60 percent. The balance 40 percent is sold as normal table eggs. We have to make good the loss,” he justified.
With the recent launch, the company’s branded egg basket has increased to four.
The two earlier brands are Suguna Pro and Suguna Sakthi.
According to Ravindran, the company sources its eggs from dedicated poultry farms in Tamil Nadu.
“When we expand to other states, we will take on lease farms so that freight cost is reduced,” he added.
He also said there were many who have entered and exited the diet egg segment, not being able to manage the costs.
“The business needs deep pockets,” he remarked.
Suguna Poultry intends to market its diet eggs in Mumbai and Pune.
The International Finance Corp (IFC) funded company is expanding its operations by putting up a huge layer hen farm in Namakkal in Tamil Nadu and a feed mill in Bangalore.
The proposed feed mill, involving an outlay of Rs.300 million ($7.6 million), will be the Asia’s largest with a per hour capacity of 60 tonne.
The company is also looking at Chhattisgarh for expanding its poultry business.