Major supermarkets and food industry leaders have backed calls for the Government to ban cages for egg-laying hens.
In a letter to Environment Secretary Steve Reed on Wednesday, food companies urged ministers to bolster action on phasing out cages, which restrict the ability of hens to move and cause the birds to suffer high levels of stress.
Waitrose, Aldi, the Co-op, M&S, Morrisons, Greggs and Mitchells & Butlers said they have all either eliminated egg-laying hens or committed to do so by the end of 2025.
But after this, an estimated four million UK laying hens will still be confined to cages each year, according to campaign group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) which co-ordinated the letter.
The UK Government must step up and enact legislation that supports market transition and drives the change needed for all food companies to only source and sell cage-free eggs and ends the production of caged eggs in the UK once and for all
To reach 100% cage-free hens and ensure a level playing field for egg sales and production in the UK, the signatories said Government action is now needed to complete the transition towards a higher welfare system.
To do this, they urged ministers to introduce bans both on the use of eggs from caged hens in domestic production as well as a wider ban on the sales of such eggs imported from overseas.
They also called for the publication of a long-awaited consultation on cages for farmed animals announced in 2022.
To coincide with the letter’s publication, CIWF released research into company progress on moving towards cage-free eggs in the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Poland.
This found companies in the UK are leading the way on cage-free eggs, with the analysis suggesting around 77% of the market is already cage-free.
Tracey Jones, CIWF global director of food business, said: “To get hens out of cages, the UK Government must step up and enact legislation that supports market transition and drives the change needed for all food companies to only source and sell cage-free eggs and ends the production of caged eggs in the UK once and for all.”
The PA news agency has contacted the Environment Department (Defra) for comment.
