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EGGS


Just over a trillion [1,000,000 million] eggs were laid worldwide in 2013. This involved some 6.6 billion [6,600 million] hens.


There is some action to ensure that these hens have enough living space and a reasonable lifestyle, with the EU banning battery cages in 2012. However, a majority of hens are kept in restricted spaces in China, USA and India, countries  who produce the most eggs and have less stringent regulations.


This is not the only concern regarding the humble egg. A high welfare poultry farmer in Holland  claims that each year across Europe 350 million male chicks are gassed soon after birth. They may then be used as ‘feed’ in zoos or just ‘thrown away’. In other parts of the world male chicks may be killed in less humane ways.


Recently the University of Leipzig announced the development of an egg monitoring system that detects nine day old male embryos. These, they say, can then be ‘processed’ into animal feed leaving only the female eggs to hatch at 21 days. But is this an improvement ?