New Zealand's oldest exporter of free range eggs has unveiled a new million dollar machine that could help unlock multimillion dollar markets.
It means the company can export eggs to Asia for the same price as moving them from Auckland to Hamilton.
They'll go from Kiwi farms to the markets of Asia, but these free range eggs were never destined to fly - instead they'll travel for three weeks by boat.
It's all thanks to a new million dollar machine which puts out a dozen eggs a second.
In 60 minutes, the machine can wash, sort and process 45,000 free range eggs. That's enough to fill a 20 foot shipping container, ready for export, every 2 and a half hours.
UV lights and automated cameras are used to ensure every egg makes the grade, and the food safety standards it meets are so high the eggs stay fresh enough to ship by sea instead of air.
For FRENZ, its opened up a much bigger market.
FRENZ CEO Rob Darby says "FRENZ's vision is to send eggs overseas for the same price as it costs to send them to Hamilton. That makes our backyard a whole lot bigger."
Sales of free range eggs are growing at 15 percent year on year, but that strong demand can cause standards to slip.
Egg brand Palace Poultry is under investigation for allegedly selling caged eggs as free range.
And FRENZ says bad eggs spoil New Zealand's reputation.
Mr Darby says "It's the brand New Zealand that takes the biggest hit. As bad as that was it wasn't the first time and it probably won't be the last given how loose the free range rules and conditions are."
For those that sell the real deal, business is booming.
20 percent of FRENZ eggs are sold overseas to the US and Asia, an export market that's only set to grow.
Newshub.
