Robert Sturdy

Brussels, 6th December, 2011 – Robert Sturdy, MEP for the East of England and member of the European Parliaments Agriculture and Rural Development Committee, has praised today’s announcement by Agricultural Minister Jim Paice that will prevent eggs from ‘battery cages’ being sold in the UK.

The announcement from DEFRA was in response to the upcoming EU Welfare of Laying Hens Directive, which comes into force on January 1 2012 and will see a ban on conventional battery cages in favour of enriched, more animal friendly cages. However, whilst the UK has spent £400million to bring its cages into compliance with the new regulations, it is estimated that come the 1st January 2012, some 50 million hens from 13 different member-states will still be producing eggs in non-compliant cages.

What to do with these eggs has been a problem, as their exportation would detrimentally effect the egg producers who have spent large sums of money abiding by the EU rules. The UK government’s proposals will prevent eggs produced in non-compliant cages from entering the market by using ultra violet light identification. The Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA) will use UV light to pick up small marks left in the shell, immediately after it is laid and before it has hardened, to identify eggs produced in non-compliant cages. If the tell tale wire marks are observed, the eggs will not be allowed to be sold as class A (whole) eggs.  The government has been joined by major supermarkets and food businesses who have pledged that they will not sell or use eggs produced in battery cages.

Following the announcement Mr. Sturdy said:

“Conservative MEPs have worked hard to ensure that the January 2012 deadline was maintain in the face of strong opposition from a number of national governments seeking a further delay”.

“Although the implementation of this directive was the responsibility of the EU’s national governments, the European Commission has been asleep at the wheel, as it has been inept at coming up with proposal to prevent eggs from non-compliant cages entering the EU market”

“Thankfully the UK government has come up with an effective solution to prevent our egg producers from being unfairly penalised simply for sticking to the rules.”

“This is good news for the British egg industry and this is a big step forward for animal welfare.”

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For further information contact: Robert Sturdy MEP– robert.sturdy@europarl.europa.eu

Tel: 01954 211790 or 0032 2284 7294

or visit

robertsturdymep.com