Pressure Grows on EU Authorities over Non-Compliant Eggs

Pressure has been growing in several countries as the deadline approaches for the end of conventional battery cages for housing laying hens in the EU. In the last week, it has been the turn of the UK, where a new report from the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (Efra) has warned that the European Commission is sleepwalking into a potential commercial disaster over the regulations that could result in unfair competition for UK egg producers.

New rules, which come into force on 1 January 2012, are designed to improve conditions for caged ('battery') hens. They are the first piece of EU legislation to ban a specific method of food production on animal welfare grounds.

In a report examining the Welfare of Laying Hens Directive, the UK Parliament's Efra Committee warns that around one-third of Europe's egg production will not comply with the new welfare standards when this legislation comes into force.

The report calls on the UK Government to press for an intra-community trade ban on the export of non-compliant eggs and egg products, and on the EU Commission to initiate infraction proceedings against Member States where caged egg producers remain non-compliant once the Directive comes into force.

The Efra report has been welcomed by the UK egg industry and the farmers' unions, as it will by producers in other EU countries, who have committed to the new Directive.

Also in the news have been moves by the governments of several Asian countries to increase awareness of the bird flu virus following last week's warning from FAO that a new strain of the virus had emerged in the region.