Comment: Colony systems were installed in good faith

By Nick Allen, chief executive, British Egg Industry Council

The British Egg Industry Council has responded to the UK Government’s proposed ban on keeping laying hens, pullets and breeder layers in cages, that closed on 9 March. The consultation proposes phasing out all cage systems for laying hens, pullets, and breeder layers, including enriched “colony” cages, by 2032. The plan aims to transition to cage-free systems.

The UK egg industry has a strong track record of delivering continuous welfare improvements, underpinned by significant long-term investment. Following the 2012 ban on conventional battery cages, producers transitioned to enriched colony systems at a cost exceeding £400 million. Many of these systems were installed in good faith 10–15 years ago and designed to operate for 20–25 years. A forced phase-out at this stage would strand substantial assets and require a further estimated £428.55 million in investment, at a time when businesses are already under considerable pressure. Moreover, the proposed timeline is not deliverable given the practical barriers involved, including the need for new buildings and infrastructure, the additional land requirements for free-range systems, and delays associated with planning permission, environmental assessments, and local opposition to new poultry developments.

Crucially, a unilateral UK cage ban without equivalent import standards risks undermining domestic production while offshoring welfare concerns. Lower-cost overseas producers, using systems of production banned in the UK,  would be well placed to supply UK demand, particularly in the egg processing and food service sectors, which together account for around 40%of the market. This inflow of imports would lead to economic challenges for the whole UK Egg sector and could lead to a contraction of domestic production and a relocation of the UK egg processing sector.

The industry therefore urges Government to take a balanced, evidence-based approach: aligning any policy changes with realistic infrastructure timelines, introducing equivalent standards for imports, and fully considering the implications for food security, rural livelihoods, and consumer prices. Without such safeguards, there is a real danger of repeating past mistakes where production is simply displaced abroad rather than improved—and of eroding the high welfare standards and consumer confidence that the UK egg sector has worked hard to build.

The publication of the Shell Shocked report underscores the very real risks associated with the increasing flow of egg imports to the UK, reinforcing the concerns we have already raised around a unilateral approach to enriched colony cages. The report reveals a 60% increase in UK egg imports since 2021, rising from around 1 billion to 1.6 billion eggs annually, with Ukraine a major driver of this growth.  Egg and egg product imports from Ukraine have risen by 65.6%  in 2025 alone. Many of these eggs are produced in conventional battery cage systems that have been illegal in the UK since 2012.  Yet they are increasingly competing with British eggs produced to the world-leading British Lion Code of Practice. At the same time, the report highlights serious gaps in border inspection regimes, raising concerns that products produced to lower food safety and welfare standards are entering the UK market unchecked.

This trend directly illustrates the import risks associated with domestic policy decisions that fail to address equivalence. As outlined previously, without robust safeguards, restricting UK production simply creates opportunities for lower-cost imports to fill the gap particularly in processing and food service channels. The Shell Shocked report links this surge in imports with a number of egg-related food safety incidents across Europe, including 123 confirmed illnesses in the UK in late 2025 linked to a single imported distributor, cases involving banned antibiotic residues in Ukrainian eggs, ongoing Salmonella investigations in Sweden, and more than 200 UK cases in 2024 associated with imported Polish eggs. The message is clear: if it becomes illegal to produce eggs under certain systems in the UK, it cannot be acceptable to import those same products from overseas. Without decisive Government action on import standards and enforcement, there is a genuine risk that we will undermine domestic producers, compromise consumer confidence, and ultimately export rather than solve key welfare and food safety challenges.

Clear and transparent labelling is an action that could help address some of these challenges. Victoria Atkins, the Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, has pledged that a future Conservative government would close the “flag loophole”, ensuring that food labelled as British or carrying the Union Jack is genuinely produced in the UK, with proposals requiring single-ingredient products to be wholly UK-sourced and multi-ingredient products to meet a 90% UK threshold.

This approach is critical to maintaining consumer trust and delivering a level playing field, enabling shoppers and supply chains to back high-welfare British eggs with confidence. Strengthening origin labelling, alongside robust import standards, will help prevent lower-standard imported eggs and egg products from being misrepresented, protecting both consumers and the integrity of the UK egg sector.