Sleepwalk to disaster
The British Free Range Egg Producers Association chairman John Retson has called for early action to protect the United Kingdom egg industry after an influential group of MPs accused the European Union of "sleepwalking into a potential commercial disaster" over its handling of the impending ban on conventional laying cages.
The British Free Range Egg Producers Association was one of the organisations to give evidence to the Environment Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee for its inquiry into the European Union’s Welfare of Laying Hens Directive. The committee has now published its findings and it says that whilst UK egg producers have invested heavily to ensure they will comply with the directive’s ban on conventional cages when it comes into force on January 1 next year, a third of EU egg production will fail to comply with the new rules. MPs on the committee are demanding that the EU take action against states whose producers fail to comply and are calling for an intra-EU trade ban to prevent illegal eggs entering the United Kingdom.
The select committee report says, "The European Commission is sleepwalking into a potential commercial disaster over animal welfare regulations that could result in unfair competition for UK egg producers."
John Retson welcomed the committee’s findings. He said, "I am pleased with the conclusions the committee has drawn. We have been saying for some time that failing to deal with this problem could be disastrous for the egg industry in this country.
"Producers in the United Kingdom have spent millions of pounds investing in free range and enriched colony systems to ensure that they comply with the rules that the European Union is introducing. It would be ludicrous if the EU failed to enforce its own rules and that resulted in illegal eggs entering this country and unfairly competing with eggs produced to the standard that the European Union demands."
John said that during all his dealings with politicians in the UK he had found them very supportive of the case put forward by the British egg industry. He said it was vital that the authorities made clear as soon as possible what action would be taken to prevent illegal eggs reaching the UK. "That needs to be done long before January 1 and it needs to be well publicised."
He said it was vital that all measures necessary were taken to protect the UK’s highly successful, high quality and high welfare egg industry from the potentially damaging effects of illegal egg imports.
The Welfare of Laying Hens Directive is the first piece of EU legislation to ban a specific method of food production on animal welfare grounds. It is believed that the most up-to-date figures acquired by the EU show that the United Kingdom will be one of 10 member states that will fully comply with the new rules. However, eight countries, including Portugal, Belgium and Poland, are expected to fail to meet the deadline. The EU has failed to obtain new figures for five other member states, including Italy, Greece and Hungary.
The chairman of the EFRA Select Committee, Anne McIntosh, was highly critical of the European Commission. "The European Commission has just not woken up to the impact that non-compliance with this legislation will have on egg producers in the UK and across Europe," she said.
"UK egg producers have spent around £400 million to improve conditions for laying hens. That money will be wasted and UK producers will be left at a competitive disadvantage if cheaper, illegal and non-compliant shell eggs and egg products can be imported to the UK from other European countries."
She said, "Several member states have not provided data to the commission about the preparedness of their caged egg producers and, thus far, the commission has failed to deal with the threat of large-scale non-compliance across the EU.
"We recommend that the powers and resources of the EU’s Food and Veterinary Office be strengthened to help ensure all member states impose robust inspection regimes sufficient to enforce compliance with the directive. We also call on the Government to confirm whether it would be possible for the UK to take unilateral action against non-compliant egg imports."
The committee says the UK Government should press for an intra-community trade ban on the export of non-compliant eggs and egg products. It also wants the EU Commission to initiate infraction proceedings against member states where caged egg producers remain non-compliant once the directive comes into force. The committee says that any failure by the Commission to enforce the new directive effectively would set a worrying precedent for other legislation intended to improve the welfare of farm animals.
The Government at Westminster has consistently supported British egg producers in their calls for the European Commission to ensure that the legislation is enforced. The Scottish Government has also been vocal in its support, and it recently reiterated its call for the Commission to ensure that EU member states comply with the new rules.
The Scottish Government’s Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said there was no excuse for countries not to be prepared, given that there had been a 13-year lead-in to the ban. It had been illegal to build or bring into use new conventional cages since January 1, 2003. He said it was estimated that major Scottish producers had invested about 100 million pounds in either new enriched cage houses or new free range systems.
"Consumers should be able to purchase eggs confident in the knowledge that they adhere to the necessary welfare standards," he said.
"At least 11 million hens could still be held in conventional battery cages in the EU come January, with very limited room to move. This is unacceptable. It is also unfair that some member states will not implement these welfare rules when Scottish producers have invested heavily to meet the new animal welfare requirements.
"The UK Government must maintain pressure on EU to sort this out. It will
be nonsensical if egg producers across Europe are simply allowed to flout
these rules.
"I call on the Commission to ensure other member states do adhere to the
high standards met by Scotland. We absolutely cannot have non-compliant
eggs entering the UK market when our producers have stepped up to the mark
and abide by the rules."
The British Egg Industry Council said that producers in the UK were extremely concerned that no definitive plans on how to deal with the likely production of illegal eggs had been forthcoming from the European Commission.
BEIC chief executive Mark Williams said, "The lack of action from the European Commission is staggering, as well as being potentially disastrous for the UK egg industry. British producers have invested heavily to meet their legal obligations and the European Commission needs to act now to ensure that UK producers do not suffer at the hands of illegal eggs and egg products. The Commission can no longer hide its head in the sand, immediate and decisive action is required now.
"We thank the EFRA Select Committee for its excellent report highlighting the plight of the industry and we hope that it will spur the Government and the European Commission into action. "
The BEIC believes it is clear that many producers in some other member states will not meet the deadline on time and it estimates that about a quarter of EU egg production -some 70 million eggs a day - will become illegal when the deadline for implementation passes.
Mark Williams said, "Our Government has already stated that it stands four square with those producers in this country who have made the investment...and that an effective intra-EU ban on the trade of eggs and egg products produced by hens which continue to be housed in conventional cages after 1st January 2012 should be put in place, to prevent ’illegal’ eggs and egg products entering the UK. We want to see this support turned into action and reflected by the European Commission."
The NFU said it was pleased that the select committee findings agreed with what industry representatives had been saying. NFU poultry board chairman Charles Bourns said, "We are very pleased with the findings and recommendations from EFRA as it comes after a lot of hard lobbying work from the NFU.
"The committee shares our view on a number of issues, such as the need to develop a strategy for non-compliance – something that we all agree should have been done by the European Commission already to act as a deterrent and to recognise the potential damage that might be caused to compliant producers.
"We also welcome the committee’s recommendation that the Commission initiates infraction procedures against member states with non-compliant producers and that the powers of the Food and Veterinary Office are strengthened to help ensure all member states have robust inspection procedures in place to enforce compliance.
"Ultimately, British egg farmers have spent around £400million on upgrading their farms to meet these new standards and there is a real threat that all this effort could be for nothing if they run the risk of being undercut by cheap imports from countries which are still producing eggs in lower welfare systems. We will continue to work with Defra and to lobby the Commission to ensure this does not happen."
The RSPCA warned that UK shoppers could be duped into buying illegal eggs that did not meet minimum welfare standards unless the European Commission took action. It said it welcomed the select committee report and called for the European Commission and UK Government to ban eggs from non-compliant producers, ensuring illegal eggs did not find their way onto shelves in the UK next year.
Alice Clark, senior scientific officer at the RSPCA, said, "We are very concerned that UK shoppers could unwittingly buy illegal eggs, or products with eggs in, that do not even meet minimum legal welfare standards as upheld in the UK.
"It is absolutely crucial that the European Commission introduces a European ban on illegal eggs being sold outside the country where they are produced. It is also vital that a rigorous inspection process is introduced to check the systems egg producers have in place and ensure there are meaningful penalties for non-compliance to put pressure on those producers to stop using illegal barren battery cages as quickly as possible.
"Retailers need to play their part in ensuring that they check their audit systems to ensure they don’t put any products containing illegal eggs on their shelves."
The British Retail Consortium has pledged its support for UK egg producers and is reassuring customers that no eggs from Europe that fail to meet the new welfare standards will be on its members’ shelves or in their own-brand products. It says that major food retailers in BRC membership have already been carrying out detailed checks on their own supply chains so they can give British consumers a guarantee about the eggs they sell or use as ingredients.
It says that virtually 100 per cent of boxed eggs sold in UK supermarkets are from the UK and a large proportion is free range. Retailers have also been checking the sources of all the liquid and powdered egg used in own-brand products, such as cakes and ready meals, to ensure they meet the appropriate standards.
BRC food director Andrew Opie, said, "UK egg producers have worked hard to meet high welfare standards ahead of parts of Europe and our retailers support them by buying as many of their shell eggs as they can and labelling them clearly as British. Shoppers already buy a high proportion of free range eggs, meaning changes to the conditions caged hens are kept in will have less of an impact here than in some other countries.
"Retailers won’t compromise on welfare standards when it comes to the eggs on their shelves or in their own-brand products. We are pleased to be able to offer shoppers and British egg producers a guarantee that lower welfare eggs will not be bought by UK supermarkets or used as ingredients in their own products. Retailers are demonstrating their support for UK egg producers. The challenge is for all other parts of the food sector to do likewise."
The RSPCA says it would also like to see Government buying standards changed to make it mandatory to buy eggs only from non-cage systems.
