Brits could be eating previously-banned battery farmed eggs if measures introduced in 2012 are dropped as part of the new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Ministers are expected to green light the import of battery eggs from countries such as Mexico as part of the new post-Brexit trade agreement.
The process was banned in the UK in 2012 and is considered by animal welfare groups to be cruel as it confines an egg-laying hen to one cage, connected to other hen cages in a long row.
They spend the majority of their lives in these systems, leaving them unable to exhibit normal behaviours.
Speaking to the Guardian, David Bowles, the head of public affairs at the RSPCA, accused the government of a “race to the bottom for animal welfare standards”.
“If this deal is agreed, it will not only set our own egg producers at a disadvantage, it will also directly impact RSPCA standards on laying hens, which account for over one in two eggs produced in the UK. The government is starting the gun on a race to the bottom for our animal welfare standards.”
Egg products could be imported from countries such as Mexico, which relies almost exclusively on battery cages for egg production.
Such imports would undercut British egg producers who operate to significantly higher standards of animal welfare under the British Lion code of practice.
Dr Nick Palmer, the head of Compassion in World Farming UK, added: “Without adequate tariffs to only allow imported eggs produced to UK standards, the doors will be wide open for powdered and liquid eggs from countries with lower or no animal welfare standards – this is not what UK consumers expect of our government, which promotes high standards of hen welfare, environmental protection and food safety.”
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