BLOG: Well-intentioned egg eaters will be unable to appease their consciences from Monday as free-range eggs are taken off supermarket shelves. The UK’s largest ever bird flu outbreak has meant chickens have not been allowed outside, a requirement of so-called “high welfare” labelling.

With everything else going on in the world, it’s easy to forget that the UK and Europe are in the grip of the largest outbreak of avian influenza ever. More than 80 outbreaks have been recorded in the UK alone, and a case of H5N1 being passed to a human was confirmed in January.

Now, the knock-on effect of government-imposed avian influenza measures is being felt by consumers. With bird flu lockdowns in place since November last year, chickens have not been allowed to roam outside meaning that eggs sold in UK supermarkets from Monday (March 21) will no longer be classed as “free-range”.

This means that anyone who claims to only buy high welfare eggs will be faced with a difficult choice - give up eggs or fund lower welfare farming. It may seem like an impossible situation given that bird flu is out of anyone’s control, but the truth is that we wouldn’t be in such a situation if chicken farming wasn’t a thing in the first place.

People who buy eggs may argue that they’re justified in buying the now low welfare eggs as they have no other choice, but they always have had a choice and a very simple one at that when one realises that high welfare labelling means nothing.

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Chickens raised for their flesh and eggs are still housed in terrible conditions and often can’t find their way outside even during times when restrictions aren’t in place. The fact that chickens haven’t been able to go outside for four or five months is almost irrelevant - the free-range labelling is a mere technicality when male chicks are still ground up alive or suffocated at birth, adult chickens are raised in their own filth, their lungs burning from ammonia inhalation, and they all die in terror shackled by their legs. That is if they hadn’t already succumbed to any number of health issues that affect egg layers and other farmed chickens, such as bound eggs and egg peritonitis.

Farmers had hoped the UK would lift its restrictions next week to stay within the 16-week grace period for free-range eligibility, but according to the Guardian, recent outbreaks have prompted the government to extend the bird flu lockdown. But eventually, the restrictions will end, when supermarkets can once again tell customers the eggs are free-range, yet very little will have changed for those chickens.

Will sales figures over the coming weeks show a decline in the buying of eggs, indicating that UK consumers really do care about welfare? Only time will tell, but we suspect that when it comes down to it, consumers will find another way to turn a blind eye to the truth of egg farming.

Andrew Gough is Media and Investigations Manager for Surge.

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