Cluck, cluck!
I have just finished cataloguing this item. The Welfare of Laying Hens Directive which is full of eggciting facts! Did you know that in 2010 the UK produced 9,023 million eggs? Around 31 million eggs are eaten in the UK per day, which is roughly 182 eggs per person. I didn’t realise I ate so many eggs.
The UK is about 80% self sufficient in shell eggs and egg products. I would have thought we would have been 100% self sufficient!
This European Union Directive 1999/74/EC will ban the use of the conventional cages more commonly known as battery cages. A conventional battery cage contains around five birds, each bird’s space is less than an A4 piece of paper.
The UK egg production industry is expected to pay around £400 million to become compliant. The worry is that the European Commission has indicated that around one third of EU production will not comply by 2012.
The traceability of egg products is a major problem the concern is about the potential damage that will be done to compliant egg producers. Retailers and producers will need to play an important role in ensuring that they are only importing compliant eggs and egg products.
