Thousands of British children think cows lay eggs, a survey has suggested. Townies fared worst in the research designed to find out if kids know where their food comes from. Dairy Farmers of Britain asked more than 1,000 children aged eight to 15 where they believed food like cheese, yoghurt and beef burgers originated.

Although knowledge improved with age, more than one in 10 (11%) of eight-year-olds did not know that pork chops come from pigs.

City children were almost three times

as likely not know that beef burgers come from cows as their rural counterparts - 8% against 3%.

One in 10 townie children did not know where yoghurt comes from, compared to 6% of those from the countryside.

Worst of all, 2% of city kids in the sample survey thought that eggs come from cows, and that bacon is from cows or sheep.

Welsh children proved to be the least clued-up when it comes to cheese - with 11% unaware that it came from cows or sheep, compared to just 3% in the East Midlands.

But there was one piece of reassuring news for dairy farmers - all of the children knew that cows produce milk.

Dairy Farmers' Phil Gibson said: "With the Government and health organisations encouraging healthy eating in schools, it is important that children are taught about the way food is produced as well as what it contains."