Battery eggs outstrip free range

No Ulster fry should be without a fried egg- or two - but free range or battery, while not being the question of the age, is a query that comes up more and more often.

The question was recently asked of the Department of Agriculture, not by a crusading celebrity chef, but a South Down assembly member.

Jim Wells, who keeps a number of free-range birds himself, asked how many egg producers were like him and the answer left him somewhat shocked.

The department told him up to 81% of the eggs produced in Northern Ireland were from intensive/battery systems and only 18% were from free range and 1% from barn systems.

Mr Wells said the figure was too high, especially with battery cages due to be phased out by the European Union in four years.

"The European community has stated that battery cages must be phased out by 2012 in Northern Ireland," he said.

"I was expecting the free range figure to be much higher."

Harry Sinclair, deputy president of the Ulster Farmer's Union, said that consumers were not as yet buying enough free range eggs.

"Unfortunately the customer base hasn't moved," he said.

"Free range is actually oversupplied - if many more farmers were producing it the premium they are getting would disappear."

He said that consumers were looking to cut costs in their food bill and were unlikely to pay more for their eggs during an economic downturn.

However, Mr Wells said that the humane choice was one people wanted to make.

"Most hens live their lives on a space which is equivalent to an A4 sheet of paper and I think most people in Northern Ireland would prefer to have their food produced in a humane way," he said.

"We have free range hens and I must say the quality of the eggs is much higher."

Mr Sinclair said that the industry was aware that EU enforced change was on the way, and some producers were moving to the more humane enriched colony system.

"They have more space, they have perches in their enclosed areas and, talking to farmers that haven't moved to this system, they are a lot more acceptable and the birds perform a lot better - but it takes time and money to do that," he said.