Paice pledges support for egg industry

James Paice MP, Minister of State for Agriculture and Food, speaking at yesterday’s Egg & Poultry Industry Conference (EPIC), pledged strong support to the UK egg industry from the Government to ensure that UK food manufacturers and retailers do not use illegal eggs after the EU ban on conventional battery cages takes effect from 1st January 2012.

With more than one-third of EU caged hens predicted to remain in conventional battery cages on 1st January 2012, Mr Paice confirmed that anyone in the UK using eggs or egg products from illegal cages would be breaking the law.

The Minister welcomed the commitment from the British Retail Consortium that the UK’s major retailers will ensure that their cage-produced shell eggs, and their own-label products containing cage-produced eggs, will come from the new enriched cage system.

However, he said that it needed to be made clear to owners of branded food products that the law also applies to their ingredients and he added that any company using eggs produced from conventional battery cages after 1st January 2012 would be breaking both the letter and the spirit of the law.

Andrew Parker, Chairman of the British Egg Industry Council, welcomed the Minister’s speech. ’Food manufacturers and retailers need to know that they will be exposed if they do not ensure that all the eggs they use are fully compliant with the new legislation. We welcome the Minister’s commitment to take action to ensure that illegally-produced eggs do not undermine British egg producers who have invested ’400 million in higher-welfare colony cages to meet the 1st January deadline.’