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19/09/2011 18:31:31
Belgium Government give egg producers more time
The Belgian government has said that its egg producers will be given more time to comply with the European Union’s ban on conventional cages.
A spokesman for the Belgian Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment Ministry has confirmed to the Ranger that, although the EU cage ban comes into force on January 1 next year, existing Belgian producers will be given an extra six months to comply with the new rules. It is the first official confirmation of the UK egg industry’s fear that many producers in other EU states will continue producing eggs in conventional cages after the official deadline in January 2012.
The British Egg Industry Council believes that a quarter of the EU laying flock will still be in conventional cages after January. It is feared that illegally produced eggs could find their way onto the UK market, unfairly undercutting British egg producers who have invested large sums of money to ensure that they will comply with the new rules.
Katy Lee, assistant director responsible for pigs and poultry in the Brussels office of the National Farmers Union said that the NFU would continue to press the EU to enforce its own rules. Her reaction came after we told her that the Belgian government had confirmed its decision to allow egg producers more time.
"We will continue to emphasise just how much money farmers in the UK have spent to comply with this directive. Farmers have invested £400 million and we do not want this to be for nothing," she said. "We will continue to work with Defra and with colleagues from other member states to press the EU to enforce the directive." If the EU did not do so it would be unfair on producers who had made the necessary investment, she said.
A spokesman for the Belgian ministry involved in implementing the new EU rules told the Ranger that existing producers who had so far failed to comply with the requirements of the cage ban would be given until July 1 next year to abide by the EU directive. He said that both shell and liquid egg from these units would only be allowed to be traded within Belgium and producers would not be allowed to continue with the banned conventional laying cages beyond July 1.
"Our Food Security Agency will be visiting all these units," said the spokesman. "They can continue no longer than July 1 or they will be shut down."
It is thought that eight countries, including Portugal, Belgium and Poland, are expected to fail to meet the January 1 deadline. The EU has failed to obtain new figures for five other member states, including Italy, Greece and Hungary.
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A spokesman for the Belgian Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment Ministry has confirmed to the Ranger that, although the EU cage ban comes into force on January 1 next year, existing Belgian producers will be given an extra six months to comply with the new rules. It is the first official confirmation of the UK egg industry’s fear that many producers in other EU states will continue producing eggs in conventional cages after the official deadline in January 2012.
The British Egg Industry Council believes that a quarter of the EU laying flock will still be in conventional cages after January. It is feared that illegally produced eggs could find their way onto the UK market, unfairly undercutting British egg producers who have invested large sums of money to ensure that they will comply with the new rules.
Katy Lee, assistant director responsible for pigs and poultry in the Brussels office of the National Farmers Union said that the NFU would continue to press the EU to enforce its own rules. Her reaction came after we told her that the Belgian government had confirmed its decision to allow egg producers more time.
"We will continue to emphasise just how much money farmers in the UK have spent to comply with this directive. Farmers have invested £400 million and we do not want this to be for nothing," she said. "We will continue to work with Defra and with colleagues from other member states to press the EU to enforce the directive." If the EU did not do so it would be unfair on producers who had made the necessary investment, she said.
A spokesman for the Belgian ministry involved in implementing the new EU rules told the Ranger that existing producers who had so far failed to comply with the requirements of the cage ban would be given until July 1 next year to abide by the EU directive. He said that both shell and liquid egg from these units would only be allowed to be traded within Belgium and producers would not be allowed to continue with the banned conventional laying cages beyond July 1.
"Our Food Security Agency will be visiting all these units," said the spokesman. "They can continue no longer than July 1 or they will be shut down."
It is thought that eight countries, including Portugal, Belgium and Poland, are expected to fail to meet the January 1 deadline. The EU has failed to obtain new figures for five other member states, including Italy, Greece and Hungary.
User Comments
Rules are only for the ones who obey them, This will open up the floodgates other countries will use the excuse that if Belgium can delay the ban they will as well.
At 19/09/2011 22:04:29This will need very strong policing by our Government,or will they fail us all?
DEFRA, Animal Health and HMRC need to issue strong warning to the EU and all its members.
We have all been pressured in to complying with the best wealth fare standards in the UK so don't let the rest of the EU bring us down even more than our own major packers have already.
Ian Chisholm
There are no free range on the continent, so why do we need to worry,about a cage ban or not, we are not producing for that market but unfortunately our market is shrinking by the day as the consumer counts her pennies, and will constantly be oversupplied by the big industrial "free range" 32000 bird units springing up all over the country encouraged by the unscrupulous packers terrified to upset the supermarkets. Cage egg coming into the country at 65p doz is well below the cost of free range production to fill the catering market which only buy on price and undermine English colony production which has been screwed by our over produced free range egg cascaded down the market to find a market , below 30p earlier in the year,and is still well over supplied as we speak, packers are still discounting free range egg to try and sell the stuff on long contracts well into next year at well below production costs so as not to cascade it into the wholesale market, our only way out is to cut production with the market trends or grain drops below £100 per ton again.
At 21/09/2011 19:12:52