Whether cookies, pasta or mayonnaise, many food products contain eggs. Often, these eggs stem from farms where hens live cooped up in small cages. Although the majority of consumers are opposed to battery farming and almost all retailers have removed fresh cage eggs from their shelves, we are unknowingly still eating eggs produced in cages. So while stopping the sale of fresh cage eggs in supermarkets signaled an important victory for animal welfare, this has been just the first step.

There is no mandatory labelling for processed products and while the EU banned conventional cages and is on the way to move away from caged keeping, many other countries do not. Currently, the EU is importing egg powder/liquid eggs from countries which have no legislation of increased hen welfare, or from countries with hens in small cages.

While the EU is moving away from caged farming, we also have to become more transparent in processed products.

FOUR PAWS advocates the EU-wide withdrawal of all cage systems for laying hens. We call on food manufacturers to change their procurement policies and refrain from using cage eggs in their products. Retailers should also stop the sale of food products containing cage eggs. Instead, we urge the processed food industry to shift to using eggs exclusively from free-range farms and shift from the overall use of eggs in their products whenever possible.

A world of conscious food choices awaits!