January’s impending ban of conventional battery cages used for egg laying hens in the EU prompted the BBC’s One Show programme to look into how the UK’s poultry industry could be put at a commercial disadvantage by imported non-compliant eggs.
Bradford born current affairs correspondent, Anita Rani, wanted to interview a poultry producer in the process of replacing a battery system for an enriched colony one.
The NFU put forward its national spokesman on egg issues - Duncan Priestner of Peter House Farm in Lymm, Cheshire. Duncan keeps 120,000 hens, the majority of which live in enriched colony coups equipped with nest boxes, perches and a scratching area where the birds can exhibit their natural foraging behaviour. The remainder of his battery cages will be taken out of the sheds during October and sent for scrap metal.
During a long day of filming (between 9am and 3pm) Anita Rani, a researcher and cameraman asked questions about what a colony system is, why other countries within the EU currently look as if they’ll not comply by January and what needs to be done to protect higher welfare UK eggs from being undercut by producers who have failed to invest in conversion.
The UK is an EU member state which has made significant progress towards banning battery cages, and it’s not a cheap thing to do. It is estimated that it will have cost the UK poultry industry in the region of £400 million to convert from conventional (or battery) cages in order to meet the requirements of the EU’s Welfare of Laying Hens Directive.
The NFU has continually raised concerns that farmers in several member states will have failed to upgrade their cages in time and lobbied for an intra-community trade ban. The Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee (EFRA) has criticised the European Commission’s complacency over the level of compliance with the directive and has supported calls for an intra-community trade ban on export of shell eggs and egg products from non-compliant egg producers. The British Egg Industry Council estimates 23% of laying hens in the EU will be illegal come 1 January 2012.
Filming took place at Duncan’s farm on Tuesday 30 August with the programme scheduled to be aired on Tuesday 13 September.
Speaking after the filming took place, Duncan said: “Anita said she eats eggs all of the time and asked the questions that many One Show viewers will surely be thinking. Questions such as why can’t the UK just go completely free range and do I personally feel that battery cages are cruel? These are all questions the industry can answer with confidence and I’m delighted the One Show chose to feature the multitude of issues that surround the Welfare of Laying Hens Directive.”
No comments have been made.