Chick cage drive unleashes welfare debate

By Neil Merrett

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Chicken

Consumers and not legislators should choose whether they can purchase either free-range or ‘enriched’ cage produced eggs or products to better help industry adapt to new laws on chicken welfare, a farmers’ group has said.

The UK-based National Farmers Union (NFU) says that calls from some animal welfare groups to extend a ban on battery cages to so-called ‘enriched’ cages across the bloc would be detrimental to overall food security and supply.

The claims come amidst growing pressure on both farmers and food processors over the growing importance of providing ethical treatment for livestock used both in, and to supply, their products and brands.

Chicken cages are one area that continues to divide opinion, with Michel Barnier, French minister of agriculture, stressing that he hoped the industry stays on track to remove all battery farming in France and Europe by 2012.

"I would not like us to go back on that date,” ​stated Barnier, at the European Parliament's Intergroup on the Welfare and Conservation of Animals. “I would not like to see it postponed.”

Battery farming laws

Battery farming is the practice of using cages to collect eggs from a large number of hens for a cheaper price.

Some of the Europe's main retailers are rejecting the process ahead of EU-wide laws set to come into place by 2012 that will require improvements in the welfare of hens kept in cages.

The legislation is part of European Commission directive 1999/74/EC that outlines minimum standards for laying hens and requires the use of the ‘enriched’ cages, which are slightly larger and have a perch, nest and litter.

However, some welfare groups and charities have hit out at Barnier’s pledge, suggesting that European authorities are not doing enough, and should look to ban cages outright from egg production.

‘Short-sighted’ measures

The NFU’s Robert Newbery claims that such calls are ‘short-sighted’ and ‘irresponsible’ at a time when farmers were doing their utmost to cater for a number of segments.

"The egg industry has to reflect diverging consumer needs for higher welfare eggs, but also for affordability,”​ he stated. “Sales in free range and conventional indoor eggs are both growing respectively, reflecting that some consumers wish to buy higher welfare while other consumers, who have to watch the pennies especially in this current financial climate, opt for affordability.”

Newbery said that such a drive to cut out hen cages entirely would boost reliance on foreign sourced eggs, which may not pertain to the same safety or welfare standards of their European counterparts.

Alice Clark, a farm animal scientist for charity, the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA), rejected the NFU opinion and claims that ‘enriched’ cages offer little improvement for a chicken’s welfare.

"Enriched cages are little better than the notorious battery cages,”​ she stated. “Little will change from the hens’ point of view, so we are calling on the government to ban all cages and are urging consumers not to buy eggs produced from them, especially as eggs are widely available from higher welfare barn and free-range systems.”

Related topics Processing & Packaging

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