Egg producers using the new 'enriched' cage systems for their laying hens could come under intense public scrutiny over the coming months as animal rights groups prepare to release new undercover footage, which they claim 'exposes' the new cages to be just as bad as battery cages.
Vegan campaign group Viva!, which hit the headlines earlier this year after releasing undercover footage of allegedly 'unhappy' free-range hens at one of Noble Foods' plants, and the culling of male chicks, is about to make public a new tranche of secretly filmed footage this time of Noble Foods' enriched cages. The group also plans a 'national day of action' at Easter to raise awareness of what enriched cage systems actually look like.
Ethically conscious consumers who had switched from battery cage eggs might be tempted to switch back to cage eggs because they thought enriched cages offered vastly improved animal welfare standards, the group said.
"But to call these cages enriched is a sick joke," said campaigns director Justin Kerswell. "This is a baby step so slight that it's almost a step backwards."
According to Viva!, the footage, filmed at the same time as the previous exposé on Noble's free-range facilities, showed that enriched cages still did not create acceptable living conditions for hens. The group also claimed to have filmed instances of hen-on-hen 'bullying' and birds left with 'deformed beaks'.
Under the 1999 Laying Hens directive, enriched cages are to replace standard battery cages by 2012 as part of an EU-wide drive to raise basic animal welfare standards for laying hens. The new cages are required to give birds more space as well as a nesting box, a perch and a scratching area.
Noble Foods did not comment specifically on Viva!'s undercover footage but said it was committed to fully convert to enriched cages by the EU's deadline.
Amanda Cryer of the British Egg Information Service, which runs the British Lion Eggs quality scheme, said it was incomprehensible how campaigners could claim the enriched cages were not better than battery cages. "We are not going out promoting enriched as better than free-range. They are still cages, but there is a definite improvement here."
NFU chief poultry adviser Rob Newbery said egg labelling was transparent and consumers were clear about whether they were buying eggs from cage systems, barns or free-range.
The RSPCA said it, too, opposed enriched cages, because they failed to "properly meet the hens' physical or behavioural needs".
Vegan campaign group Viva!, which hit the headlines earlier this year after releasing undercover footage of allegedly 'unhappy' free-range hens at one of Noble Foods' plants, and the culling of male chicks, is about to make public a new tranche of secretly filmed footage this time of Noble Foods' enriched cages. The group also plans a 'national day of action' at Easter to raise awareness of what enriched cage systems actually look like.
Ethically conscious consumers who had switched from battery cage eggs might be tempted to switch back to cage eggs because they thought enriched cages offered vastly improved animal welfare standards, the group said.
"But to call these cages enriched is a sick joke," said campaigns director Justin Kerswell. "This is a baby step so slight that it's almost a step backwards."
According to Viva!, the footage, filmed at the same time as the previous exposé on Noble's free-range facilities, showed that enriched cages still did not create acceptable living conditions for hens. The group also claimed to have filmed instances of hen-on-hen 'bullying' and birds left with 'deformed beaks'.
Under the 1999 Laying Hens directive, enriched cages are to replace standard battery cages by 2012 as part of an EU-wide drive to raise basic animal welfare standards for laying hens. The new cages are required to give birds more space as well as a nesting box, a perch and a scratching area.
Noble Foods did not comment specifically on Viva!'s undercover footage but said it was committed to fully convert to enriched cages by the EU's deadline.
Amanda Cryer of the British Egg Information Service, which runs the British Lion Eggs quality scheme, said it was incomprehensible how campaigners could claim the enriched cages were not better than battery cages. "We are not going out promoting enriched as better than free-range. They are still cages, but there is a definite improvement here."
NFU chief poultry adviser Rob Newbery said egg labelling was transparent and consumers were clear about whether they were buying eggs from cage systems, barns or free-range.
The RSPCA said it, too, opposed enriched cages, because they failed to "properly meet the hens' physical or behavioural needs".
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