Document type: DG SANTE audit report 2021-72436 of the European Commission
Preview: This report describes the outcome of an audit of Sweden carried out remotely from 23 November to 2 December 2021 as part of Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety work programme. The objectiveof the audit was to assess the effectiveness of official controls to ensure theprotection of the welfare of laying hens at all the stages of production. The audit concluded that the official controls are generally effective for verifying the welfare of laying hens at all stages of production.
The Swedish legislation has more specific and stringent requirements than the EU legislation. This has led to high animal welfare standards in the sector. As that legislation allows the use of "derogations" accepting minor shortcomings on dimensions or stocking densities, it may affect compliance with some EU minimum requirements in specific cases.
The laying hen register had occasional iother small companion animalscuracies or discrepancies between official databases related to the maximum capacity of hens per farming method. This, along with the lack ofaccessibility to the hens register by officials carrying out checks on egg-marketing rules at farms, may jeopardise the verification of the traceability of the farming system labelled in the eggs.
The regularcontrols on welfare at farms focus on the condition of the hens and someenvironmental parameters (i.e. ammonia levels) with less focus in verifying dimensions. Theauthorities verify comprehensively the required dimensions (e.g. usable area, perch length, nest area) and number of drinkers establishing the maximum capacity of hens before the building is first populated but inspectors do not routinely re-check all those parameters at subsequent officialcontrols to verify that no changes have been made.
Checks on welfare at farms are risk-based and the planning is consistent across the counties. Authorities perform checks on egg labelling rules for farming method and open-air runs at the same time as the welfare checks. This has resulted in a considerable proportion of hen farms checked annually (around 10%) covering all farming methods and stages of production. The inspection guidance is detailed and comprehensive allowing a consistent interpretation of thefindings.
The good internal audit programme on welfare controls includes laying hen farms and shadow checks on them. This, together with the detailed analysis of the results of the official controls gives confidence in the quality of the controls and the continuous improvement of the system.
Injurious pecking is broadly under control without using beak trimming, which is banned. The confinement of free-range hens due to the avian influenza risk has not led to animal welfareproblems. Most of the end-of-lay hens are slaughtered but some are culled at the farm using carbon dioxide under official supervision. Male day-old chicks are culled at hatcheries using carbon dioxide.
The report contains recommendations to the competent authorities aimed at improving some aspects of their official control system.
