Head to head: The battery egg debate

Cheap imports could threaten British egg industry

The government is considering an outright ban on keeping hens in battery cages - one step further than forthcoming EU rules which ban the basic "barren" cage but allow the slightly larger and better equipped "enriched" cage.

But this has raised a debate on whether consumers are prepared to pay for the alternative - barn laid or free-range eggs

Chief Executive of the British Egg Industry Council, Mark Williams, says a total ban would remove consumer choice but Jacky Turner from Compassion in World Farming believes such a move is long overdue.

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Mark Williams

We produce eggs in all different systems from cages, from barns and from free-range and organic and we get figures back of sales patterns from both supermarkets and other retailers and it clearly shows that 70% of British consumers are still purchasing caged eggs.

We are providing an enriched cage in the future, which is governed by EU legislation.

There remains a significant proportion of British consumers who demand a low cost egg

Mark Williams, British Egg Industry Council

It provides the bird with increased space, height, a perch and scratching area and it's much better for the bird's welfare, but of course it will still be a very low cost production system.

We believe in consumer choice.

At the moment, a pack of six eggs are 38p in the supermarket and the similar free-range eggs would be about 68p, so it's a sizeable premium, but that reflects the additional cost of production.

The EU directive allows for barren cages to be phased out by 2012.

But we are unsupported and have to operate in the demands of the market place.

If we go and ban barren cages ahead of time, all that will happen is that we will have eggs supplied from our continental competitors and from third countries produced from barren battery cages in Europe until at least 2012 and then of course, eggs will come in from enriched cages.

So we have to be practical about this.

We support high standards of animal welfare, of course we do.

We have eggs produced to the highest standard of anywhere in the world and consumers benefit from that but at the same time, our lion quality scheme also incorporates significantly higher standards of animal welfare.

The sales of free-range eggs in the last 10 years have increased quite dramatically and they're going upwards, but there remains a significant proportion of British consumers who demand a low cost egg.

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Jacky Turner

There are people in the industry who are really unwilling to get rid of cages and want to promote enriched cages.

I think the fact that [Animal Welfare Minister] Elliot Morley says he doesn't see any advantages of enriched cage over the battery cage is encouraging.

Even in enriched cages, the hens are still squashed into a cage and it's completely unacceptable.

Cheap imports are a very serious worry and it means any country that has welfare laws must be allowed to refuse imports

Jacky Turner, Compassion in World Farming

We want to see hens in a barn, not in a cage, but in good free-range conditions.

I think there is every chance enriched cages will go, especially now that Germany has banned them.

Cheap imports are a very serious worry and it means any country that has welfare laws must be allowed to refuse imports.

We have to make a decision to keep out eggs that don't meet the standards, keep out battery eggs.

We feel farm industry fears about cheap imports are exaggerated but I see their point of view.

But our job here is to defend the interests of farm animals.

If free trade rules say we have to keep hens in batteries then free trade rules have to be reformed.

Most people in the industry now and certainly, the general public say battery cages are a no go.

But a lot of people are worried about the enriched cage remaining legal.

People are prepared to pay more.

I accept for a minority of the population, there is a real cost implication.

For those people I feel this is a question of public policy and to enable them to buy them, it might mean some sort of government subsidy.