New government legislation means that eggs can still be labelled as 'free range', despite mandatory housing measures to protect from bird flu.
A significant shift in regulations regarding egg sales and labelling at major retailers such as Tesco, Asda, Sainsbury's, Morrisons, Aldi, and Lidl is being initiated by the UK Government.
The Express reports that the packaging will no longer need to reflect when free range hens have been placed into "hen lockdown" amidst bird flu outbreaks. In the event of bird flu infections, it is standard practice to keep even free range chickens in barns and cages to halt the transmission of the deadly virus.
The 16-week limit for free-range hens to be kept indoors before their eggs is now being abolished, following the Government's announcement that this threshold was surpassed by a total of 13 weeks in the years 2021-22 and 2022-23. This "led to significant costs for the industry" due to the need for altering labels and packaging when hens were housed for longer than 16 weeks.
This change implies that consumers who are mindful about animal welfare won't be able to discern if chickens have been caged despite the 'free range' label. However, shoppers might be keen to know that the change has been designed to protect hens from bird flu outbreaks.
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