2024-10-10 06:15:00
For World Egg Day tomorrow, FOUR PAWS has a look at the current Austrian import figures[1] thrown by eggs. A total of 24,985 tonnes of eggs or egg products were imported in 2023. The number one importing country is still Germany with 12,354 tons, the Czech Republic is in second place with 2,876 tons, closely followed by Poland with 2,666 tons. But this also means that Austria is very likely to purchase caged eggs. While Germany keeps “only” four percent of all laying hens in cages, in the Czech Republic 56.3 percent live in cages, and in Poland it is even 70.1 percent.
“Although cage keeping has been banned in Austria since 2020, unfortunately that does not mean that caged eggs no longer end up on our plates. On the contrary, we can be very confident that we are regularly eating eggs from chickens that have had to suffer in cramped cages all their lives. Cage eggs are often found in processed products such as sauces, pasta or pastries. In contrast to fresh eggs, these egg products unfortunately still do not have to be labeled,” says FOUR PAWS campaign manager Veronika Weissenböck.
FOUR PAWS has been calling for mandatory labeling for processed eggs and in the catering industry for years. This would also be necessary because every second imported egg is processed or ends up in the catering industry. In 2023 there were 281 million, even more than fresh eggs (251 million).
Across the EU, almost 40 percent of laying hens still live in cages. As in previous years, Malta is sadly at the bottom when it comes to animal protection: 97.2 percent of the chickens on the Mediterranean island live a painful existence in cages.
In the EU, the so-called “designed” cages are still permitted. “This means that the animals have to constantly stand on wire mesh floors in an area of only 750 cm², without any opportunity to even come close to living out their needs,” explains Weissenböck.
But Austria also imports eggs from third EU countries. In 2023, for example, almost 152 tons were imported from Ukraine. 63.2 tons of eggs even came from China. The conditions for the animals are even worse outside the EU, because instead of the “equipped” cages, the traditional battery laying systems are still common there. A chicken has an area of 550 cm² available – less than a DIN A4 sheet. The laying hens live crowded together on wire mesh floors, without daylight. They cannot scratch, flap, or sand bathe.
“This is why mandatory labeling of processed products, similar to shell eggs, would be so important: only if consumers know where the animal comes from and how it was kept can they make a conscious purchasing decision. If the demand for eggs made from animal cruelty falls, perhaps keeping chickens in cages will finally be a thing of the past,” says Weissenböck.
[1] Sources:
https://b2b.amainfo.at/marktinfo/aktuelle-marktinformationen
1728541379
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