The WSPA animal charity is delighted that the national retail outlet Sainsbury’s announced that from February 2009 it will no longer sell eggs from battery hens. The company had already earned the Compassion in World Farming ‘Good Egg Award’ for last year.
Sainsbury’s is the first major retailer to withdraw all the whole eggs it sells from battery cages, which is 1.6 million eggs every day, that’s 600 million eggs a year! An EU wide ban is set to start in 2012, but Sainsbury’s appear to have moved with times to show they are market leaders when it comes to animal friendly shopping.
Food Business Manager at Compassion in World Farming, Rowen West-Henzell, said –
‘We are over the moon that Sainsbury’s has gone cage-free almost a year ahead of the store’s original 2010 commitment. The scale of this move is breathtaking, with a total of 2.3 million hens every year now living cage-free as a result. We have worked closely with the Sainsbury’s team throughout this transition. What stands out is their dedicated hard work and a genuine commitment to continuously improving life for all farm animals in their supply chain. Let this be an example to the other ‘big-four’ UK supermarkets who have failed to match Sainsbury’s on this issue.’
The majority of the world’s farm animals currently live in miserable factory conditions raised under production line methods with high outputs being achieved by subjecting the animals to intense and prolonged suffering. In terms of the sheer scale of number, hens and chickens get the worst deal.
WSPA UK Regional Director, John Gray, said –
‘The WSPA commends this inspirational move by Sainsbury’s to significantly improve their animals welfare policy and look forward to other supermarket chains following suit to make battery caged birds a thing of the past.’
