Update on UK
progress towards
eggs from noncaged hens
In the UK there are four official classifications
of egg production types: Cage, Barn, FreeRange and Organic.
There is a widely publicised industry ambition
to end the sale of eggs from caged hens by
2025, and Bidfood are also supportive of this
objective. It's worth explaining however, the
challenges faced by the egg industry in
transitioning to eggs from non-caged hens.
Battery cages were banned in 2012 and since
the ban, the minimum UK standard for caged
hens has been the enriched colony system.
This system means that hens are still housed
indoors and in a cage, but it's a huge
improvement on the battery system, because
the cage includes features such as a scratch
area, perch and nest box. It's a 'colony'
because the number of birds kept in these
significantly larger cages is typically up to 80.
The transition to the enriched colony system
brought significant improvements in animal
welfare with lower mortality, better feather
cover and good production because the hens
are happier in a system that provides more of
the hens' needs. This transition cost farmers
in excess of £400m[1]. Fast-forward ten years
and there is now a British Lion Code of
Practice for barn eggs, which will see hens
liberated from enriched cages and able to
circulate within an aviary, which improves
welfare standards even further[2]. As at June
2020, there were currently around 14 million
birds in enriched cages in the UK and the
move to the new barn standards will see
numbers fall, approximately, by between
30% and 35%, due to the new reduced
stocking rates permitted[3].
Click here to find out Compassion in World
Farming's Tracey Jones's view on the new
barn egg standards:
[1] Source: What the retailers are saying:
Cage egg decision (nfuonline.com)
[2] Source: British egg sector agrees on
'much higher' new barn standards | News |
The Grocer
However, transitioning facilities to meet the
new barn egg standard is expected to cost
farmers in the region of £200m, at a time
when some producers are still to see a return
on the investment of converting to enriched
cages. Farmers need contractual long term
commitments from buyers to give them
security against the investment and the retail
sector (which [1]constitutes 59% of the shell
egg market) isn't currently giving them the
long term commitment they need, which is
slowing progress and has the potential to
drive smaller scale producers out of the
market. Some retailers have decided to go
beyond the barn egg standard and opt for
free-range instead, which complicates the
picture still further for farmers needing
commitment to the barn egg standard. As at
2019, the UK egg market was split across the
four categories, which shows the scale of
change needed to transition to non-caged
eggs:
[1] UK Egg Industry Data | Official Egg Info
Currently (as at June 2021) our sales are split
70:30 Caged: Free range, as we supply at the
quality requested by our customers.
The ongoing availability and price of barn
eggs is therefore uncertain but we will
continue to talk to our customers to meet
their quality and cost objectives and promote
higher welfare standard eggs where feasible.