Poultry plan ruffles feathers

Date: 21/01/1999

By Renée Cordes

A GERMAN bid to exempt small poultry farms from proposed EU-wide rules setting minimum animal welfare standards for breeding hens has sparked fresh controversy.

Under a European Commission proposal unveiled last year, the minimum space allotted to battery cage hens would be almost doubled to 800 square centimetres, and minimum requirements for temperature, lighting and ventilation would be laid down. All egg producers would have to comply from 1 January 2009.

The plan was welcomed by animal rights campaigners and won the support of Germany, Austria and Nordic countries. But farmers in France, Belgium, Greece, Italy and Portugal argued that battery cages ensured both animal welfare and higher productivity, and claimed Union poultry breeders would lose out to foreign competitors if new rules added to their costs.

More than 90% of hens in the EU are kept in battery cages, with 3% in free-range and 4% in alternative systems such as cages with nesting and perching space.

In the latest attempt to placate the industry, the German presidency has proposed farms with less than 500 laying hens be exempt from new rules.

But it has also called for more space to be allotted to birds kept in cages and has proposed an additional set of requirements for non-cage or alternative breeding.

"This is ludicrous," said Mark Williams, of the British Egg Industry Council. "The proposals would drive the industry to a system which does not yet exist ."

Animal welfare groups are also unhappy with the latest plan. 'Enriched cages', or those equipped with nest and perch areas, "seem nice in principle, but never work properly", said David Wilkins, director of the Eurogroup for Animal Welfare.

MEPs could add fuel to the fire next week when they vote on amendments to the Commission proposal.