Consultation underway into keeping hens in cages
A consultation on banning the use of cages to house laying hens for egg production is now underway.
However, NFU Scotland says the use of enriched cages is already falling year-on-year and will seek a meeting with the Scottish Government to discuss the plans.
Over 1.1 million hens were housed in cages in Scotland as of February 2024.
Agriculture minister Jim Fairlie said: “As we committed to in our Programme for Governments, we want to improve the welfare of laying hens to ensure their confinement does not negatively impact their normal behaviours.
“Significant progress has already been made in recognising the importance of animal welfare – both in government policies and the demand from the public in the choice they make when shopping.
“If implemented, the ban would be another example of Scotland leading the way in improving the welfare of animals by being the first UK nation to ban the practice.
“We’ve seen the European Union put forward legislation to prohibit using cages for all farmed livestock, with Luxembourg and Austria already banning them and others phasing them out.
“In the coming weeks we will also call for evidence on the use of cages in the gamebird and quail egg and meat sectors ahead of consulting on phasing out cages in those sectors in due course.
“I would encourage everyone with an interest in this issue to take part to help us shape how we protect the welfare of laying hens.”
NFUS poultry working group chair Robert Thompson said the welfare of birds is hugely important to all Scottish egg producers.
He said: “Scotland has led the way in embracing free range and barn egg production in the UK with more than 80 percent of our production from these systems.
“While enriched cages still account for a significant proportion of eggs produced in this country, our own intelligence indicates that the importance of the system reduces every year and that the number of birds kept in enriched cages is likely to have been over-estimated.
“Had we been given the opportunity to consult with Scottish Government in advance of this announcement, we could have shared this. Regardless, we will be writing to the Scottish Government to request a ministerial meeting to discuss the consultation.
“It must be acknowledged that the approval and move to enriched cages in 2012 brought significant welfare benefits to birds over out-dated conventional cages, allowing value eggs to continue to be supplied to retailers and the catering sector. Those who have invested in enriched cages did so on the understanding that there would be no further legislative changes and knowing that the cages they had installed had an estimated lifespan of 30 years.
“The huge demand for value eggs from retailers and catering outlets is currently being largely met by imported eggs from enriched cage systems in other parts of Europe including Spain and Poland.
“The imposition of a unilateral ban on enriched cages in Scotland by the Scottish Government opens that market to imports, not only to eggs from other parts of the world, including Europe, but to other parts of the UK by creating regulatory divergence in the UK internal market.
“Scottish Government’s suggestion of a non-statutory, voluntary requirement on Scottish companies to stop buying eggs from enriched cage systems is both unpractical and unenforceable and we will simply import eggs from elsewhere with no better or potentially worse welfare standards and production methods than those being met by Scottish egg producers.”
The consultation will run for 12 weeks, until June 25.