Farmer sold millions of caged eggs as 'free-range', Commerce Commission alleges

It's alleged that millions of caged eggs were sold as "free range".

A West Auckland egg farm owner is facing eight charges after allegedly selling millions of caged eggs as "free-range".

The Commerce Commission has laid eight charges against Xue (Frank) Chen, the owner of Gold Chick Poultry Farm.

Chen faces four charges of obtaining by deception under the Crimes Act 1961, and four charges, in the alternative, of making misleading representations under the Fair Trading Act 1986.

The commission says that while Chen produced and sold some free-range eggs at his company's farm, he also sold millions of caged eggs as free range between September 2015 and October 2017.

It's alleged he arranged for caged eggs to be purchased and re-packaged into egg cartons labelled "free-range".

"The Commission alleges that falsely labelled free range eggs were sold to retail and wholesale customers who believed that they were receiving free range eggs and were paying higher prices than for caged eggs," it said in a statement.

It comes as a Newsroom investigation in March last year found millions of caged eggs had likely been sold in Countdown supermarkets under labelling saying they were free-range.

New Zealand's major supermarkets have all committing to phasing out the sale of cage eggs by 2027 or earlier.