Document type Answer to question n°8820 published in the Official Journal of the French Republic
Authors: question: Josy Poueyto (Démocrate (MoDem et Indépendants) - Pyrénées-Atlantiques). Answer: Ministry of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.
Question: Mme Josy Poueyto draws the attention of the Minister of Agriculture and Food Sovereignty to the implementation of the ban on the crushing of male chicks in the egg industry. Indeed, in January 2020, Minister Didier Guillaume announced the forthcoming end of chick crushing. The equipment for in ovo sexing was to be ordered by French hatcheries in the first quarter of 2022, and installation work was to begin before June 1, 2022, with a view to implementing the ban on chick crushing from January 1, 2023. A number of regulatory texts have meanwhile been issued to clarify the ban and give information on exceptions to the general principle. Only gassing remains authorized for the post-hatching culling of male chicks from white-feathered strains used for scientific purposes and animal feed. She would therefore like to know how the French government is monitoring the situation, to ensure that all French hatcheries are now equipped with in ovo sexing equipment, and that male chicks are no longer crushed. She would also like to know what proportion of chicks are currently covered by regulatory exceptions and can therefore still be gassed after hatching, and how the Government intends to monitor and control the application of these exceptions. Last, she would like to know whether the government intends to extend the ban on crushing to female ducklings, millions of which are still culled every year after hatching.
Answer: Improving animal welfare and combating animal abuse are priorities for the French government. In order to ensure a sensible transition in farming methods, taking into account societal expectations and seeking ways to leverage the additional costs for farmers in particular, without creating unfair competition on the European market, France is an active participant in all European and international efforts on this matter. Up until now, nearly 50 million male chicks have been culled each year in the egg industry in the absence of profitability or an economic market for them. With a shared determination to put an end to this practice, and in response to strong societal expectations, the government and the egg industry worked together throughout 2022 to ensure that, as of January 1, 2023, egg-crushing systems would be taken out of use, and that no more male chicks in the egg industry would be culled by crushing. Only one derogation has been granted for the culling by gassing of chicks used in animal feed. This exception allows captive wild fauna, reptiles and birds of prey to be fed on the whole carcasses of day-old chicks. Disposal by crushing or grinding is therefore not authorized under this derogation. In addition, this derogation is limited to strains whose embryo sex cannot be determined using a method based on the difference in feather color, i.e., exclusively to strains of hens producing white-shelled eggs and traditional strains, which account for 15% of laying hens in France. Current technologies for determining the sex of the embryo for strains of hens producing white-shell eggs are not sufficiently advanced for general application. As a result, all shell eggs sold to consumers are produced by brown hens, for which the culling of male chicks will be strictly forbidden, representing 85% of all laying hens in France. The French government has provided 10.5 million euros to help hatcheries install in ovo sexing machines. The industry has made arrangements to share the additional costs incurred by all links in the production chain as a result of these new technologies, estimated to be 45 million euros a year. On-site inspections of hatchery equipment by FranceAgriMer agents confirm that all hatcheries are equipped with fully-operational equipment. France thus remains the first country in the world, along with Germany, to put an end in this way to the crushing of male chicks in the egg-production sector.
