It is difficult to imagine that the reason why "edible eggs" has once again attracted the attention of major media is due to the comparison of several brands of edible eggs with ordinary eggs in terms of quality and price of the Shanghai Pudong New Area Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Committee (hereinafter referred to as the "Pudong New Area Consumer Protection Commission").
In detail, in less than four years since the concept of "raw eggs" was proposed, the controversy between relevant nutrition experts, major media and consumers on raw eggs has not stopped, such as "is it safe to eat raw eggs", "Is raw eggs in line with the dietary habits of the mainland", "What is the difference between raw eggs and ordinary eggs", "Is it worth paying IQ tax to buy raw eggs", "Is it worth buying raw eggs"...
And whether the edible eggs that have attracted the attention again can withstand the doubts of all parties and eventually become the new favorite of consumers?
origin
What is "raw egg"
When nutritious, inexpensive eggs,
It has become a symbol of health.
Before the concept of raw eggs was introduced, the habit of eating raw eggs was already popular all over the world, especially in the United Kingdom and Japan. In 17th-century England, raw eggs were the most popular addition to beer and wine; a mixture of raw eggs, beer, honey and herbs was even used as a prescription medicine to treat colds. Beer and egg mixes were then brought to the American colonies, and foam cocktails made from a mixture of alcohol, sugar, spices and raw eggs became a local fashion accompaniment and are still a popular alcoholic product for some people.
By the 20th century, however, things had taken a sharp turn for the worse; in 1996, a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) pointed out that due to the large-scale salmonella enterito poisoning incident in the United Kingdom in 1988, the price of eggs plummeted in that year, and the combination of raw eggs and alcohol was rarely tried.
As of now, the attitude of the UK authorities toward raw eggs has not changed; in 2016, the UK Food Microbial Safety Advisory Committee (ACMSF) published a report saying that since 2001, the microbial risk of Salmonella in UK eggs has been greatly reduced, and British eggs produced under the Lion Code can be eaten raw or slightly cooked and supplied to all groups in society; however, the UK Food Standards Agency (FSA) still said: "Eat raw eggs, Eggs with flowing yolks or any food that has not been cooked or is only slightly cooked and contains raw eggs can cause food poisoning. ”
In contrast, Japan, although raw eggs did not appear as early as the United Kingdom and other countries, it is the country that has persisted for the longest time, and Japan was once used as the birthplace of raw egg eating habits. According to historical records, in the 1838 book "Goji Diary" of the 9th year of Tenho (1838) in the late Edo period, it is recorded that guests were entertained with raw egg bibimbap; in the 1927 issue of "Edo Life Research, Comet Year 2 August Issue", Kishida Ginka, a journalist active in the Meiji period, is considered to be the first person in Japan to have a clear record of eating raw egg rice. Traditional Japanese culture believes that "food should be processed to a minimum, try to eat in the closest state to nature, and do not cook is the cooking." "Therefore, the Japanese diet pays more attention to maintaining the taste of the raw materials themselves and processing less, so as not to destroy the characteristics of the ingredients as much as possible."
In modern times, with the rapid development of the economy and the rapid abundance of materials, ordinary consumers in Japan have more choices, and they also generally believe that raw food cuisine not only respects the natural state of food, pays attention to the nutrition of food, and even more in line with the health needs of the human body. Therefore, when nutritious and inexpensive eggs became a symbol of health, the convenient, delicious, clean and hygienic raw egg bibimbap was completely popular.
Although in Japan in the 1980s, food poisoning caused by salmonella also occurred frequently due to the eating habit of raw eggs, but in order to completely solve the big problem of "Japanese people eating eggs unsafely", the Japanese government took the lead in building an industry system to improve the safety of raw eggs. With the continuous improvement of the relevant food regulatory system, the Japanese government has required major manufacturers to carry out salmonella vaccination of layer chickens, and conduct 25 salmonella tests before appearance, from the seed source of layer chickens, feed drinking water, chicken coop hygiene, to the final eggs have a set of evaluation systems to upgrade egg quality, to avoid the risk of egg and egg products.
origin:
From Japan's "raw eggs" to mainland "raw eggs"
Raw eggs were once served with a range of high-end ingredients,
Become a symbol of exquisite and quality life.
In the mainland, although there are very few people or groups who have the hobby of eating raw eggs, when raw eggs really enter our lives in a way of eating, it can be traced back to the rise of the sukiyaki diet in the mainland, this new Japanese cuisine with beef and vegetables as the main material and raw eggs as the dipping sauce has quickly caused consumers to change from fear to obsession with raw eggs.
Since then, in the process of sukiyaki rapidly blossoming in the first- and second-tier cities on the mainland, the consumption scene of raw eggs has also become more diversified, from the eggs in Japanese ramen shops or hot spring eggs, to the Eggs Benedict for American brunch, to the Scottish Eggs that once swept the late-night taverns. With a variety of dishes, raw eggs were even once combined with a series of high-end ingredients to become a symbol of exquisite and quality of life.
However, at that time, the eggs used in the restaurant were still limited to Japanese egg brands such as Lanhuang and Ise; moreover, whether it was the restaurant or these Japanese brand eggs, it was more of a layout in first- and second-tier cities, and the consumer population was more inclined to the high-income group, and did not cause a strong response in the mainland consumer market.
The turning point in which raw eggs really entered the mainland public's vision and won consumer recognition came after the 38-year raw egg standard introduced by Yellow Swan from Japan. In 2018, In order to achieve the goal of "making a high-quality product in the primary agricultural product of eggs", Feng Bin, the founder of Yellow Swan, traveled to Japan three times and invited Hiromitsu Kato, founder of Japan PPKC (Poultry Product Quality Control) Co., Ltd., to serve as the chief scientist of Yellow Swan and officially introduced Japan's 38-year "edible eggs" standard. It is worth mentioning that although some consumers have long known raw eggs, this is the first time that the concept of "raw eggs" has been proposed in the mainland. Through 3 years of efforts and an investment of 800 million yuan, Yellow Swan has finally formed a quality assurance system from chicken seedlings, feed, research and development, production and sales of the whole chain, which has reached or even exceeded the quality standards of Raw Eggs in Japan.
In the four years since the establishment of the brand, Yellow Swan has completed five financings (see Table 1), and in January 2022, Yellow Swan completed a Series C financing with a scale of 600 million yuan, setting a record for the largest amount of egg brand financing in the field of basic ingredients in recent years. With the blessing of funds, Huang Swan interacts with consumers with the help of popular social platforms such as Shuangwei Yijiao Xiaohongshu and celebrity live streaming with goods, and cooperates with high-end supermarkets such as Hema and Crus Vanguard Ole' to launch multiple forms of grass marketing through online and offline channels, further enhancing brand voice in the wave of continuous consumption upgrading.
develop:
Rapid penetration of the consumer end, gradual standardization of the production end
High price positioning with its high quality products
There is an inevitable connection.
With the rapid expansion of many egg companies in the field of edible raw eggs, consumers have gradually recognized this new brand. According to CBNData consumption big data, "edible eggs" has become one of the fastest growing categories in Tmall egg products, and the number of consumers and sales scale in 2020 increased by more than 200% year-on-year, which has contributed nearly 1/4 of the market share of Tmall eggs. By 2021, the latest data released by Jingdong shows that the sales of edible eggs in 2021 will increase by 116% year-on-year; Hema data also shows that the sales of edible eggs in 2021 have accounted for 40% of the egg category, with a year-on-year growth rate of up to 1000%.
However, the controversy has not stopped since the launch of edible raw eggs. Various media and experts have carried out a variety of interpretations of the way to eat raw eggs, and all parties in society have always been skeptical of its high price positioning. Just a few days ago, the Pudong New Area Consumer Protection Commission carried out raw egg consumption survey activities, selected 10 edible eggs and 2 ordinary eggs on the market for a number of physical and chemical and health tests; the results showed that the 12 products tested this time had a high safety factor, and the 13 detection indicators of the 2 ordinary eggs sampled were also within the scope of the standard requirements, but the price of edible eggs was significantly higher than that of ordinary eggs, and the maximum difference in unit price was even as high as 5 times (see Table 2). The Pudong New Area Consumer Protection Commission also questioned this: Why is it more expensive to eat raw eggs?
In fact, the positioning of high prices is inevitably related to its high-quality products. "Compared with traditional grass eggs and native eggs, the biggest difference between raw eggs is the full-link bactericulation treatment, which makes the edible eggs free of salmonella, E. coli and other pathogenic bacteria, which can ensure that even if it is not fully cooked, it is still safe enough." Yang Lingli, founder of the domestic edible egg new brand "Sakura-hime Komachi", said, "Moreover, high-end edible eggs should not only look at the presence of pathogenic bacteria, but also look at the Huff value, the fullness of the yolk, the concentration of the egg white, the color, the nutritional value, the taste and other indicators." ”
So, which part of the consumer is paying for the high price of raw eggs? Previously, Saint-Tille Village said that some consumers who buy raw eggs are middle- and high-income families, who are more willing to pay a premium for high quality; the other part is young people who accept the trend of diversified diets. Liu Yong, the relevant person in charge of Yellow Swan, said that the main consumer group of raw eggs is "post-85" to "post-95"; in addition, exquisite mothers are the most important consumers of raw eggs. Moreover, the data of Hema Fresh Platform shows that "Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hangzhou" has become the top five players in the sales list of edible eggs, which also shows that the middle and high income groups and the pursuit of exquisite life are the main consumer groups of raw eggs.
However, even though the spurt of edible egg brands has repeatedly demonstrated the success of this category, the different promotional points created by major egg companies under the banner of raw food have dazzled consumers; more seriously, because the mainland has no relevant production standards in the field of edible eggs, these brand companies have no rules to follow in the process of producing raw eggs. In terms of the 10 edible egg samples investigated by the Consumer Protection Commission of Pudong New Area, the implementation standards of 3 products are enterprise standards, and the remaining 7 products implement GB 2749-2015 "National Standard for Food Safety Eggs and Egg Products". Although the country has not yet issued relevant standards, in October 2021, the first group standard of "edible eggs" in the mainland, which was jointly formulated by industry, academia, research and commerce, has made an accurate definition of the new category of "edible raw". Zhu Qing, professor of Sichuan Agricultural University, doctoral supervisor and recipient of special government allowances of the State Council, said: "The greatest value of group standards lies in defining the connotation of edible eggs and becoming the norms of the entire industry production, and it is necessary to make joint efforts to make the standards used on a larger scale, so as to drive the transformation and upgrading of the egg industry." ”
In fact, in developed countries and regions such as Europe, the United States and Japan, non-cooked eggs such as boiled eggs and one-sided fried eggs are generally accepted by the public. In recent years, more and more Chinese consumers have also regularly consumed non-fully cooked eggs such as boiled eggs. To meet the food safety of this way of eating, it is necessary that eggs are free of salmonella, which is also an important social significance for establishing and implementing standards for raw eggs.
future:
Different tracks work hard to achieve unique value
The market will not choose you because you stand there,
It's about choosing you because you have unique values.
With the rapid changes of the times, the composition and demand of consumers are increasingly showing a diversified and changeable trend, coupled with the continuous impact of the new crown epidemic, which is also prompting consumers to over-interpret and increase the requirements for daily consumer goods, which also provides every enterprise and every brand with the possibility of becoming a trendmaker at a certain stage and becoming a category giant.
Although in general, if you want to occupy the category in the minds of consumers with limited capacity, the best differentiation of the brand is to become the first, to be the leader or pioneer of the category; but in the large category again subdivide the category, the only way to do the subdivision category is not a way to become a category pioneer again. For example, in January 2022, the "Happy Egg", which has been focusing on non-caged eggs, and Beijing Hema Fresh joined hands to launch non-caged raw eggs, officially settled in hema fresh Beijing stores; moreover, the product also uses egg trays made of 100% fully degradable bagasse and other raw materials to promote its environmental protection concept.
And, like "Mengniu Dairy, create the second brand of Inner Mongolia Dairy", "Learn from Yili, compete for the national industry, and strive to create the second brand of Inner Mongolia Dairy", this marketing method of turning passive into active may also become a breakthrough method for the egg industry reference; after all, Mengniu's creative strategy of "willing to rank second" makes many people remember the Mengniu brand, and then achieve rapid performance.
In today's world of edible egg brands, we are not sure who will become the leading brand in the future. Christoffer Ernst, chairman of the World Egg Association (IEC), once said: "In the next 5 to 10 years, the branding of China's egg industry will become higher and higher, and there will be more 'dark horses'. Since we can't judge who will be the ultimate "dark horse", the only thing we can do at the moment is: pay attention to market trends, make products with ingenuity, and combine their own positioning to fight every category war. After all, the market doesn't choose you because you're standing there, but because you have unique value.
Source: Egg World