EFSA urges a ban on chicken cages as part of animal welfare reforms

22 Feb 2023 --- The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) has published urgent recommendations to improve the welfare of farmed broiler chickens and laying hens. The assessments call for widespread improvements for farmed chickens, notably discontinuing cage use and mutilation while providing improved environments.

The assessments, requested by the European Commission (EC), will provide scientific support to the ongoing revision of the EU’s animal welfare legislation. 

A new legislative proposal by the Commission is expected in the second half of the year.

FoodIngredientsFirst talks to the scientists behind the report, Cristina Rojo Jimeno and Michaela Hempen, to find out more.

“The European Commission requested these scientific opinions in the framework of its Farm to Fork strategy to provide a scientific basis to support the ongoing revision of the European Union’s animal welfare legislation,” says Rojo Jimeno.

The EC’s Farm to Fork strategy in May 2020, which, in part, involved the Commission announcing that it will revise current animal welfare legislation by the end of 2023. It will use the latest scientific evidence to broaden the scope of welfare legislation and make enforcement of welfare laws easier. 

Today’s assessment of caged hens is part of several pieces of legislation up for review by the Commission. Primarily, Council Directive 98/58/EC governing the protection of animals kept for farming purposes will be revisited alongside four Directives establishing the minimum standards for the safety of laying hens, broilers, pigs and calves. 

Finally, the EC will assess the various regulations on the protection of animals during transport and at the time of killing.

Of these impending regulations, the EFSA has already provided supporting scientific opinions on the welfare of farmed pigs and farmed animals during transportation. EFSA scientists are finalizing welfare assessments of farmed calves, dairy cattle, ducks, geese and quail.

EFSA scientists have recommended welfare changes to caged hens ahead of legislate updates.Assessment and recommendations
The EFSA assessment identified eleven “highly relevant welfare consequences” for the current systems for farmed chickens, focused on the environment, hazards, and practices presently used.

“For broilers chickens, nineteen highly relevant welfare consequences were identified in the currently used production systems,” flags Rojo Jimeno. “These included soft tissue and skin damage, inability to perform exploratory and foraging and comfort behavior, restriction of movement, locomotory disorders, and prolonged hunger among others.”

The report details chickens under the current system as suffering from bone lesions, group stress, an inability to avoid unwanted sexual behavior, forage or perform comfort behavior. They also experience isolation stress, predation stress, restriction of movement, resting problems, skin disorders and soft tissue lesions.

Based on their findings, EFSA experts recommend eliminating cages and providing healthier environments for chickens, offering greater space, elevated platforms for seclusion, covered veranda for foraging and other quality-of-life improvements. 

As a broad solution, the experts posit the use of a ‘dark brooder’ – a space which mimics the aspects of a mother hen by providing a warm, dark and protected environment – to improve mood and restfulness. 

“These measures allow the birds to seek comfort and perform exploratory, foraging and other natural behaviors,” says Hempen. “Other recommendations include the reduction of the density of birds, dust and noise and provide appropriate lighting, among other factors.” 

Elements of the inquiry addressed concerns from the ‘End the Cage Age’ initiative. 

The EC requested EFSA to take into account the European Citizen’s initiative ‘End the Cage Age’ and assess characteristics for each different animal species or categories which should have housing systems suited to their specific needs,” says Hempen. 

“The species referring to this initiative are: laying hens, pullets, broiler breeders, layer breeders, quail, ducks and geese, sows, calves and rabbits.”

Legislative change looms
EFSA will present the findings of its scientific opinions on broiler chickens and laying hens during an online public event scheduled for 28 March 2023. A similar event covering calves, dairy cows, ducks, geese and quail is planned for 23 May 2023.

Last August, the EFSA released its related report on the well-being of farmed pigs, detailing 16 welfare consequences under the current systems. This report recommended improvements and changes to farmed pig space allowance, enrichment material, weaning, and the practice of mutilations.

The chicken farming space is currently facing various changes, with new gene editing techniques being developed to mitigate the killing of day-old male chicks, global egg stocks cracking under the pressure of avian flu and egg producers facing soaring price costs from the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

By James Davies