Battery-farmed eggs produced in the EU, and products made from them, will not be allowed to be sold in the UK following the British ban on barren battery cages.
The Minister of State for Agriculture and Food James Paice confirmed in a letter to the British Egg Industry Council that “eggs from conventional cages could only go to processing in the Member State of origin and could not be exported” and that the “egg products created could only be used in food products or industrial products manufactured within the Member State of origin”.
British egg producers have invested £400m on phasing out barren battery cages and all British cage eggs now come from new, enriched-colony cages.
Producers in 13 other EU countries, including Spain, Italy and Poland, have not fully complied with the ban and it is estimated that around one-quarter of EU cage egg production does not meet the legal requirements, with some 50 million hens still being kept in barren battery cages, producing more than 40 million eggs a day.
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