Around 30 egg producers in the UK have been found to be flouting new EU regulations and are continuing to produce eggs from chickens in battery cages; despite 30 years of planning, over half of all EU member states missed the deadline when new welfare laws came into force on 1st January.

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The UK had been extremely vociferous about the fact that 14 of the 27 EU states had failed to get their houses in order in the run up to the ban on battery cages and had commented the potential effect this would have on British farmers’ trade. However, the BBC reported this morning that the UK admitted it had not fully complied with the ban at a European Commission meeting on Wednesday (11th January), sparking the ire of compliant producers and animal welfare groups alike.

The January 2012 deadline had been in place for 12 years prior to the introduction of the new law. Peter Stevenson, chief policy advisor at Compassion in World Farming said the fact that some producers in Britain, where the farming industry prides itself on its animal welfare record, are still using battery cages is unacceptable. He said, “I am very disappointed that a number of British egg producers are still illegally using battery cages, even though they have been given 12 years to phase out these cages. What government must now do is take urgent steps to make sure these producers comply with the ban or get out of egg production.”

Frédéric Vincent, spokesperson for the European Commission, said that throughout the EU there are around 46 million hens still in battery cages, or 14 per cent of the total flock, and that the revelation of UK’s failure to comply, “Was news indeed; the UK is joining the list of states that were not compliant with the new directive on the 1st January. We had 14 states [who were not compliant] and now we have 15.”

He said the Commission would be pursuing the UK for non-compliance, as it with other non-compliant states, and that “We will study the data from the UK.”

Agriculture Minister Jim Paice has yet to comment on the failure to get UK producers up to speed with the new legislation. A Defra spokesperson said the department was “Very disappointed that a small minority of egg producers have not complied.” The spokesperson pointed out that the number of hens in illegal cages represents about 1 per cent of the national flock and said Defra has issued compliance notices to the producers, claiming the government is confident the UK will be completely compliant by February.

If the illegal producers fail to comply, council trading standards officers could bring prosecutions against them. Animal welfare groups have said action must be taken to ensure no eggs from the illegal units enter into the supply chain.

There are fears that pig welfare laws, set to come into force in January 2013, will meet with the same inaction.

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