STRATEGY ▶▶▶
Cage-free US egg industry: sooner rather than later
The implementation of new animal welfare laws for laying hens in the US state of California will affect the entire country’s egg production. Here are the details of the regulations, implementation timeline – and lawsuits.
BY TREENA HEIN I
Farmers in states outside Califor- nia must comply with the same rules that apply to their counter- parts in Califor- nia if their eggs are sold in Cali- fornia.
t was back in late 2018 that voters in California approved Proposition 12, also known as the Farm Animal Confine- ment Initiative. Full implementation of this law will begin in just five months’ time, at the end of 2021. As explained
in a California Department of Food & Agriculture (CDFA) news release, Prop 12 requires that laying hens, nursing sows and veal calves “be housed in confinement systems that comply with specific standards for freedom of movement, cage-free design and minimum floor space”. Under this law, by 2020 egg-laying hens were each to be given 1 square foot (0.093 m2
)
of floor space if caged, and by the end of 2021, all egg-laying hens must be housed in cage-free barns. However, the law also has reach outside of California in that Prop 12 prohibits any business from knowingly engaging in the sale within the state of shell eggs, liquid eggs, whole pork meat or whole veal meat from animals housed in a “cruel manner” contrary to the standards outlined. This means that farmers in
states outside California must also comply with the same rules that apply to their counterparts in California, as do processors who market food products containing liquid eggs. The state of California has the largest population (almost 40 million people) of any state in the US. A large proportion of the eggs consumed by Californians are produced within the state.
Legal challenges It is no surprise therefore that there have been lawsuits relat- ed to Prop 12. The North American Meat Institute has recently challenged it on the basis that over half of US state govern- ments (more than 25 of the 50 in total) do not want one state applying its laws to other states. The Institute also noted that Prop 12 threatens “the free flow of interstate commerce”. However, at the end of June the US Supreme Court declined to review the legislation. The American Farm Bureau Federa- tion together with the National Pork Producers Council have also launched a separate lawsuit against the state of Califor- nia over Prop 12 and this lawsuit is currently being reviewed by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
Lack of detail In early July, the United Egg Association’s (UEA) Further Pro- cessors Division which represents firms that process eggs into
14 ▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 8, 2021
PHOTO: RONALD HISSINK
PHOTO: MARCEL VAN DEN BERGH
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44