THE Cabinet yesterday approved a $15-million loan from the reserves of the Agricultural Credit Board to finance Jamaica Egg Farmers Association’s proposed liquid egg facility.

The funding will allow local egg farmers to produce the liquid egg and to store it for distribution. Currently, the only source of liquid egg, mainly used by hotels, is the imported product, Minister of Information Donald Buchanan told yesterday’s post-Cabinet press briefing at Jamaica House in Kingston.

Liquid eggs are eggs without shells that can be pasteurised and homogenised (processed).

The establishment of the processing plant will provide for an expansion of the market, a reduction in the importation of liquid pasteurised eggs, the creation of a centralised grading and marketing facility, the provision of efficient storage and the stabilisation of supplies, Buchanan told reporters.

The Observer reported last November that the new facility, a joint venture between the Jamaica Egg Farmers Association and Caribbean Egg Processors, was being established in Montego Bay at a cost of $30 million.

The facility is capable of processing 18,000 eggs per hour. The plant also has the capacity to meet anticipated increase in demand, but the new process will enable the separation of yolk from albumen to service specialised markets.