A farmer from north Suffolk has hatched an idea to develop products from eggs that cannot be sold to supermarkets.

Matthew Havers, who is a partner of Kings Farm Foods, in Eye, came up with the idea to use second grade eggs to make protein drinks and omelette mixes after working at a company which supplied materials to beverage companies.

The 27-year-old, who is the fifth generation of farmer in his family, said: 'I thought about making new products myself and thought what could be used on the farm and eggs were the most viable.

'We have 16,000 free range chickens and in the last flock we had around 10 to 15pc of eggs a day that were second grade because they were too small or not the right size to be sold at the shops.'

These eggs are usually bought by a breaker and sold to commercial food manufacturing. But Mr Havers is hoping to use these eggs for his products, which he hopes to make on the farm.

He said: 'Eggs have always been nutritionally beneficial. I want to make something like a Yakult-type drink made from eggs that can be enriched with vitamins, and protein drinks for children's lunch boxes and a different one for the hard-core gym goers.

'It would be nice to make a co-operative buying group across the farms in the area to buy their second grade eggs at a fair price, if demand for the products was there.'

And Mr Havers has just been awarded £20,000 from the Eastern Agri-Tech Growth Initiative, which supports the development of new and innovative ideas, which means he can crack on with making his first batch of products.

'I hope to have prototypes by the middle of May,' said Mr Havers. 'I am hoping I can find somewhere to lend me the machinery for two or three months to make the first batch.'