Public polling has revealed that 72% of UK consumers are concerned about male chick culling in the egg industry.
The new data, released today, also found that 74% of Brits would be in favour of stopping this unnecessary and inhumane practice by mandating the use of existing technology to determine the sex of chicks before they are born. Every year in the UK, 40-45 million day-old male chicks are killed in the egg industry – usually by gassing – simply because they cannot lay eggs and are not suitable for meat production.
In response to these findings, The Vegetarian Society has launched a new national campaign, ‘Ban Hatch and Dispatch’, urging the UK Government to ban male chick culling and follow other European countries who have introduced legislation to end the practice. The campaign website includes an animated short film narrated by Stephen Fry, and an e-petition for the public to sign calling on the UK Government to act.
Ban Hatch and Dispatch calls for legislation that would make “in-ovo” sexing technology mandatory in the UK, paving the way for a more ethical and humane approach to egg production.
In-ovo sexing technology allows producers to determine the sex of a chick as early as day nine of incubation, enabling hatcheries to hatch only female chicks, and therefore eliminate the need to cull male chicks shortly after they are born. This technology, which is already mandatory in France and Germany, has been successfully used to eliminate the practice of male chick culling since the late 2010s.
Furthermore, it is likely Italy and the Netherlands will follow suit – in 2021, Italy approved a law to ban male chick culling by the end of 2026, while the Netherlands is currently debating doing the same.
To bring about this change in the UK, the Government would simply have to amend the Welfare of Animals at the Time of Killing (England) Regulations 2015. The campaign is calling for this to happen as soon as possible, so that the egg industry has time to transition throughout the rest of this Parliament.
Currently, “cull-free” eggs are not available in the UK. However, the same polling finds that consumers would be very happy to pay more for eggs that are cull-free, with the Government’s Animal Welfare Committee analysis estimating this would equate to just 1p per egg (i.e., 6p for a carton of six).
Richard McIIwain, CEO of The Vegetarian Society commented, “For far too long, male chick culling has been an unavoidable and deeply concerning issue in the British food industry. The UK has always prided itself on leading the way in ethical food production and maintaining high animal welfare standards. Today, we have the technology to ensure this becomes the case in the egg production industry.
“Ending the outdated and unnecessary practice of male chick culling is the next natural step, aligning with the values of the British agriculture industry and the public, and our European counterparts. With innovation at our fingertips, we have a real opportunity to make a lasting change for the better.
“We urge consumers who support the campaign to sign the petition calling on the UK Government to Ban Hatch and Dispatch.”
The petition calling on the UK Government to Ban Hatch and Dispatch can be signed at https://hatchanddispatch.vegsoc.org/.
