Young hens included in EUs 2027 caged animal farming ban

The “End the Cage Age” movement by the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) and the support of 1.4 million citizens led to the decision.

Meredith Johnson Headshot
(Courtesy Tecno Poultry Systems)
(Courtesy Tecno Poultry Systems)

On June 30th 2021, The European Commission stated that legislation would be proposed in 2023 to phase out the practice of caging farm animals by 2027. The EU Parliament and the EU’s 27 governments must agree to the proposal. Individual countries would be responsible for enforcing the rule.

The proposal includes young hens, quail, ducks, geese, and rabbits. Laying hens, broilers, sows, and calves are included under the original EU cage-free transition. If approved, farmers will receive EU subsidies to assist in remodeling their current farming systems and receive new training.

The Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) is encouraging UK and Welsh governments to follow EU’s lead on the animal welfare movement. Chris Sherwood, RSPCA Chief executive, stated “We must now see the UK and Welsh governments act too, to ensure we do not fall behind. Sadly, we know laying hens, game birds and rabbits are among the millions of animals still cramped in farm cages, or so-called enriched cages.”

The petition

The ECI was able to gain approximately 1.4 million signatures on the “End the Cage Age” petition that was officially registered in September 2018 and submitted in October 2020 concerning the matter. Janusz Wojciechowski, EU Commissioner for Agriculture, stated “A sustainable food system cannot exist without high animal welfare standards. Thanks to our citizens, the Commission will be even more ambitious in this regard and phase out the sue of cage systems for animal farms.”

The population of the EU was 512.6 million people in 2018, according to Eurostat. The 1.4 million signatures on the petition represented less than 0.3% of the EU’s population in 2018.

The new legislation was discussed by David Hughes, Ph.D. (Dr. Food) in the latest “Connecting the Dots” chat put on by the Center for Food Integrity (CFI). Dr. Food stated that the new legislation would cause problems with international trade negotiations due to all imports needing to comply with the cage-free standard. Additionally, he stated that EU taxpayers will be funding the cage-free transition, which will most likely cause prices to increase for meat, poultry, and egg products.

Page 1 of 477
Next Page