EUROPE is likely to change the 16-week derogation that allows eggs to continue to be marketed as free-range if they are housed because of the risk of avian influenza.
Currently, if free-range laying hens are ordered to be housed for health reasons, their eggs can continue to be marketed as free-range for an initial 16 weeks, after which they must be sold as barn.
This is problematic as it creates significant labelling challenges and can mean farmers lose the premium price for free-range eggs.
Member states are now regularly having to house birds and, with many in Europe considering avian influenza to be endemic, feel the law needs to be changed.
‘Financial pressure’
In 2021/2022, for example, hens were housed for about nine months in the Netherlands, putting some farmers there under financial pressure.
This European law was adopted by the UK when it left Europe, and remains the case in UK law.
