Document type: article published in The Guardian
Author: Tom Levitt
Preview: Eggs produced in the EU could continue to be labelled as "free range", even if the birds are not allowed outside, under new proposals.
The European Commission has put forward plans for scrapping the time limit on the marketing of eggs as free range if chickens are forced to be housed to reduce the risk of outbreaks of bird flu.
It comes after mainland Europe and the UK have suffered the worst bird flu outbreak on record this year. More than 46 million birds have been culled on farms across the continent so far, with France suffering particularly badly. In the UK, there have been more than 100 highly pathogenic outbreaks. [...]Marion Koopmans, a World Health Organization adviser, has said bird flu was no longer just a seasonal threat, with local circulation now year-round in Europe. An avian flu vaccine for chickens is not yet available, although trials are under way.
Farmers have been given longer and longer grace periods of 12, and now 16 weeks, during which time eggs can continue to be marketed as free range as long as a compulsory housing order is in place. However, this year, the extended outbreaks meant that after a 16-week grace period, free-range eggs had to carry a label saying they were "barn eggs" - the term for eggs from hens kept indoors permanently. [...]Under the new rules, farmers in the EU would no longer have to drop the free-range label on their eggs if there was an extended compulsory housing order.
A draft proposal from the commission, which would need to be approved by the European parliament before it went into force, says: "Where temporary restrictions have been imposed on the basis of [European] Union legislation, eggs may be marketed as 'free range' notwithstanding that restriction."
Egg producers in the UK said it was essential that the UK government now followed suit to avoid British suppliers being undercut by EU imports. [...] The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs is understood to be considering how to respond to the EU's proposals.
