Animal chairty calls for better labelling over battery egg cruelty

Four Paws wants consumers to be able to make better informed decisions about what they chose to buy after David Heath, the Government’s new farming minister, admitted that food products containing illegally produced battery eggs may still be on sale in Britain.

Britain banned battery hen farming several years ago ahead of an EU-wide prohibition on the old inhumane cage systems at the start of this year. However, many member states, such as Italy, Spain and France, have failed to comply with the ban and Mr Heath said that while raw eggs were being inspected upon arriving in the UK to ensure they met welfare standards, it remained the case that food prepared from battery farmed eggs may still be being imported.

He said: “These egg products can then be used only in food products or industrial products manufactured within the member state of origin and only these food products can then be exported.”

So far many leading British retailers have signed up to an agreement not to use battery hen eggs and undercut UK farmers who are complying with the law.

But Angelique Davies, from Four Paws, said: “It’s shocking that products containing illegal eggs may still be on sale in the UK. In the 21st century it is totally unacceptable that eggs from these abused hens are still on sale on British shelves in processed foods and consumers aren’t even able to tell from the label where the eggs have come from.”