A culinary inventor in Otago is up in arms over what he claims is an Australian attempt to claim his unique treatment for eggs.
The hullaballoo is over a 'raw smoked egg' which Neville Kenealy invented in a shed on his farm at Lawrence a decade ago.
TVNZ1's Seven Sharp reported that cold manuka smoke permeates through thousands of holes in the egg shell and the egg lasts twice as long as an unsmoked egg.
It featured on Southern Television in 2010 and since then has been sold around the country.
But Mr Kenealy couldn't get a patent, and a few weeks ago the Kenealys discovered an Aussie company - the Smoked Egg Company - are claiming to be the "world’s first" cold smoked egg producer.
The Smoked Egg Company filed a patent application in March, but according to the patent office haven't responded to a request for further information.
Seven Sharp couldn't get a response from them either.
Watch Julian Lee's report on the smoked egg saga in the video above.
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