Thousands sign legaleggs.com pledge

After a campaign to raise awareness of the EU ban on battery cages in 2012, more than 5,000 people signed up to the legaleggs.com pledge as a show of solidarity with producers of British Lion eggs and egg products and to support the fight to keep eggs and egg products produced from illegal cages out of the UK.  The site is now closed.

All British Lion cage flocks were compliant with the EU Welfare of Laying Hens Directive from 1 January 2012 and all British Lion cage eggs since then have come from hens kept in more animal welfare-friendly colony cages.

However, around 50 million hens – producing 40 million eggs a day – were known to still be in banned battery cages in several other EU member states, including Italy, Spain and Poland, in 2012 and even at the end of 2013 there were still some eggs being produced in the EU by hens kept in barren battery cages.

To avoid eggs laid in barren battery cages, which are still legal outside the EU, consumers are advised to look for the British Lion mark on eggs and egg packs, which guarantees that the eggs are both legal and produced to the higher animal welfare and food safety standards.

Farmers and others in the food industry were urged to sign the pledge to show their support for keeping eggs and egg products produced from hens housed in illegal battery cages out of the UK.  In addition to members of the public, those who signed up to champion the cause included MPs, MEPs, as well as the clergy.

For more information on the Welfare of Laying Hens Directive see https://www.egginfo.co.uk/egg-facts-and-figures/production/welfare-laying-hens-directive