The government is considering relaxing the rules around what qualifies as a free-range egg to help farmers battling a record avian flu outbreak compete with the European Union.
Under current rules, eggs laid by chickens housed indoors for more than 16 weeks cannot be defined as free range and instead must be labelled as barn eggs. However, rules put in place to curb a massive outbreak of avian flu in the UK, which has killed over 3.8 million chickens to date, is forcing farmers to house previously free-range birds.
As a result, the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) is considering allowing eggs laid by birds housed indoors for months on end to carry the free-range label to help UK farmers compete against their counterparts in Europe where the idea was first proposed by lawmakers in September, according to The Daily Telegraph.
British Free Range Egg Producers Association chief executive Robert Gooch said at the time: “It’s very necessary that the UK aligns with the EU, otherwise retailers will import eggs labelled as free range from housed hens in the EU in the event of an AI [avian influenza] epidemic when there are none on the UK market.”
He added: “Housing orders protect the health and welfare of hens and shouldn’t affect the marketing of the product.”
A spokesperson for the British Egg Industry Council said current labelling legislation was “no longer fit for purpose” and in “urgent need of review”.
The industry group has been in discussions with the government on “how best to amend the legislation so that consumers can continue to enjoy British free-range eggs”, the spokesperson said.
They added: “Our priority is to ensure the health of our hens, as well as the viability of the free range sector. These are still free-range hens that have been housed to protect their health and wellbeing, but for a piece of legislation to say they can no longer be called free range after 16 weeks is wrong.”
The cost of producing eggs has shot up this year, with the avian flu epidemic adding to soaring heating and feed costs, pushing up prices on supermarket shelves. As a result, UK giant Sainsbury’s has recently been stocking Italian free-range eggs rather than British ones.
- Get the latest grocery news and analysis straight to your inbox – sign up for our weekly newsletter
No comments yet