The awards have been set up by animal welfare group Compassion in World Farming (CIWF) to celebrate companies abandoning the battery cage egg in favour of eggs from free-range or barn kept hens.

“The Good Egg Award winners are abandoning eggs from battery cages in all sorts of products. From cakes to confectionary to mayonnaise, consumers looking for ethical eggs will finally be able to make that choice,” said event host Joanna Lumley who is fronting the campaign for Compassion in World Farming.

Award winners this year will effectively release over 10 mln hens from cages, double the number released by Good Egg Award winners’ commitments in 2007.

Receiving a 2008 Good Egg Award are:

The National Trust
Cadbury Creme Egg
Bradford & Bingley
City Hall
The Cooperative Food
Country Style Foods Ltd
Hellmann’s UK
Leon restaurants
McDonald’s Europe
Unilever Europe
Restaurant Associates
Sainsbury’s
Subway
Tate
Transport for London
Waitrose
Hampshire County Council
Shropshire County Council
Halton Borough Council
Metropolitan Borough of Wirral
Croydon Council.

The UK’s largest supermarket Tesco receives the 2008 Rotten Egg Award for failing to make a commitment to rid their shelves of battery cage eggs, says CIWF. According to the organisation, Tesco would free an approx. 1.3 mln birds from cages each year if it moved to selling only barn and free-range eggs.

Although the consumer trend for free-range is growing steadily in the UK, 62% of the UK hen flock is still kept in battery cages, ranking the UK 5th in a European league table. In some countries such as Spain and Portugal the figure rises to 97%.

“These awards make it clear that the food business is turning its back on battery cages,” says Philip Lymbery, Chief Executive of Compassion in World Farming. “Pressure on producers to supply more barn and free-range eggs is mounting. The Good Egg Awards demonstrate a growing demand for ethically sourced eggs, currently led by some of the world’s biggest brands.

 

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