Norwich City Council has become the fiftieth council in Britain to go cage-free on the eggs that it serves. This milestone has been reached thanks to the hard work of our supporters who have taken up our campaign with great gusto. The first 27 councils to take the cage-free pledge received our ‘Good Egg’ Award. This was at the Local Government Association conference in July. Collectively, those award-winning councils alone are responsible for freeing 15,000 hens a year from battery cages. The political buy-in to a cage-free future is invaluable.
Barren battery cages still confine nearly 60% of the 27 million hens in the UK. These cages prevent the hens from carrying out most natural behaviours, including flapping their wings. If a pet parrot were kept in these conditions, it would rightly be deemed illegal. Thankfully, the European Union has said that, from 2012, the barren battery cage will be banned. That’s a huge step forward, especially as there are nearly 400 million hens for egg-laying in the EU.
Unfortunately, the EU ban will not extend to so-called ‘enriched’ cages. These give the hens marginally more space and are legally obliged to come with objects that are supposed to offer nesting, perching and dust-bathing facilities. The reality is that these provisions are a pale comparison of what hens really need. That is why, in a report looking into the science and practice around these cages, we concluded that ‘enriched’ cages fail to overcome the severe welfare problems that we see in barren cages. Our report went on to say, that ‘enriched’ cages “are so inadequate that this system deprives hens of the ability to meaningfully fulfil natural behaviours, leading to abnormal behaviours, frustration, suffering and body degeneration.”
Over the past few years, we have been engaging with food industry companies to encourage them to go cage-free on their eggs. We seem to be at a positive tipping point with retailers on this issue. Amongst leading retailers, Marks & Spencer, Sainsbury’s, The Co-operative Food and Waitrose have all gone cage-free, at least on the shell eggs they sell. Morrisons has gone cage-free on its own-label shell eggs. Other food companies have been joining this cage-free trend; McDonald’s, and Unilever’s Hellmann’s range of mayonnaises, being two such examples. Indeed, the cage-free movement amongst companies has become so strong that a recent issue of the influential food retail magazine, The Grocer, declared eggs from caged hens "extinct."
These companies are proud recipients of our Good Egg Award, an award scheme we set up to encourage companies to take tangible steps to benefit animals and gain the positive recognition they deserve for doing it. Over the three years, we have awarded over 170 companies from across Europe. And the scheme continues to build year on year with new companies talking with us all the time.
Our strategy in Europe is to ensure that Europe’s 2012 ban on barren battery cages goes ahead on time and undiluted. At the same time, we are working with companies and councils to show them the business and animal welfare benefits of ensuring that their eggs come from hens that have enjoyed cage-free lives. In this way, we are building the incentive for producers to switch to higher welfare systems, such as free-range and barn, rather than cramped and cluttered cages. Your help in this campaign is as crucial as ever. Please help us by convincing your Council to go cage-free. Thank you!
