Animal defense entities are calling on the Ministry of Agriculture to anticipate the new regulations on animal welfare prepared by the European Commission and prohibit cages as a breeding procedure for laying hens. The NGO Faada and Equalia has prepared a document in which they judge that it is necessary for these animals to gain space not only for welfare reasons but also to avoid the health risks associated with overcrowding.
The report calls for a transition to alternative systems (soil, open spaces…). And, in this sense, Germany is used as an example, where the cage system for chickens will be prohibited in 2025, while it has been eradicated in Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria.
"Beak trimming, cannibalism, lack of space and high levels of stress: the eggs produced in Spain come mostly from hens that have spent their lives in small cages and suffer from these and other serious welfare problems," he points out. Virginia Iniesta, Faada veterinarian. “We request that the necessary means be put in place and a transition that takes the chickens out of hell out of their cages is encouraged,” she adds.
The report highlights the lack of space for these animals to develop their natural behaviors, as well as the effects caused by lack of exercise and claw problems due to lack of movement. Other consequences are cannibalism (pecking) among hens, triggered by stress u and "systematic beak trimming" (at an early age, precisely so that the animals do not peck each other) as well as the deadly effects that causes them the requirement of laying extra-large eggs.
The End the Cage Age European citizens' initiative gathered in October 2020 a total of 1.4 million signatures from 24 countries to call on the European Commission to propose legislation to ban the use of cages for both laying hens and other livestock species.
The Commission responded in 2021, I accept the bid and is now preparing a proposal in the context of the revision of its regulations on animal welfare, which it must make known at the end of the year.
The approval of the new regulations could be in 2027. Meanwhile, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), after being consulted by the Commission, has issued a report in which they recommend avoiding the practice of using cages.
Spain has 47 million hens, of which 73.5% are in cages, while the rest live in sheds on the ground (16.5%), with outer space (9%) and under an ecological regime (1, 5%).
"Doing away with cages in Spain and housing the hens in alternative systems would cost at least 1,000 million euros," replied María del Mar Fernández, director of the Interprofessional Organization for Eggs and their Products. This would be the minimum cost for placing the chickens in houses (on the ground), but it would be a higher cost if they were housed with access to the outside.
"The consumer is concerned about any incidence on prices," he stresses. And in this sense, he recalls that eggs from hens raised on the ground cost between 18% and 20% more than those from cages, and if they are free-range, at least 35% more.
The director of the interprofessional responds to the defenders of animals inviting them to denounce specific irregularities, instead of giving a bad genetic image of the sector. “The cages themselves are not bad; Another thing is if the producer does not do good maintenance, correct management or does not have them fed", adds Fernández.
“We comply with the regulations and when there are other regulations we will comply with them as well”. Fernández recalls that when the European Commission presents its new proposal on animal welfare "producers will want to know what its economic impact is" in order to plan their entire adaptation. No producer is going to change the system if a fair price is not guaranteed, he says.
"The market and the consumer will tell us what they want to pay for an egg."
