Hay River eggs to crack northern market

For the first time in more than a decade, eggs laid in the Northwest Territories will be available at local stores.

The Canadian FoodInspection Agency has approved Hay River Poultry to sellits eggs in the N.W.T.

"I mean you'll be able to have eggs going into Yellowknife that'll be on the store shelf within a week," said the farms manager, Glen Wallington.

The company hopes to have its eggs on supermarket shelves by the end of the summer.

Up until now, the company was only approved to sell eggs in B.C., Alberta and Manitoba.

Wallington started his business seven years ago. The barn was operated for more than 15 years and in the past, eggs were sold in the town. Butthe equipment needed updating.

"The grading station had pretty old, antiquated equipment and was pretty run down. The (Canadian Food Inspection Agency)is very strict on food preparation, which naturally you have to be, and so it had to be completely upgraded," he said.

It took about a year to get the certification to sell locally.

"The name of our product is Polar Egg. We want to distribute these eggs not only in the Northwest Territories but potentially in Nunavut and Yukon," said Kevin Wallington, Glen's son, who is in charge of sales and marketing.

"All of our food comes from somewhere else and the fact that we have a product here that doesn't need to, that we can provide locally, that's something that people are willing to get behind."

Even though the eggs are not available yet, the Ehdah Cho store on the K'atlodeeche First Nation reserve in Hay River already has a standing order.

Warren Nekurak, the stores manager, wants to be the first store to carry the N.W.T.eggs.

"You can't get a fresher egg unless you got chickens in your own backyard," he said.