7 January, 2008 – A host of leading supermarkets in the UK are to ban the sale of eggs from battery hens, sources have claimed.
Morrisons, Sainsbury and the Co-op are all reported to have promised this weekend to remove caged hen eggs from their shelves after customer concerns over the animals’ welfare became too intense to ignore.
Sainsbury said it hoped to remove all battery eggs by next year. The Co-op is thought to be working to a similar deadline, while Morrisons said its own-brand eggs would exclude battery produced ones by 2010.
Waitrose and Marks and Spencer have already imposed a ban on battery eggs.
It is thought the move could mean that only free range and organically produced eggs will be sold in the UK’s supermarkets by 2011.