PUBLIC PROCUREMENT OF NON-CAGE EGGS

That this House welcomes the decision by many supermarkets, local authorities and manufacturers not to sell or use eggs from caged hens; notes with concern that the criteria for the pilot stage of the Government's Healthier Food Mark do not exclude the use of conventional battery eggs; further notes that the production of conventional battery eggs is banned in the EU from 1 January 2012 and that the public sector continues to purchase eggs from production systems with low standards of animal welfare; and calls on the Government to prohibit the public procurement of eggs from caged hens and to buy instead eggs that meet higher animal welfare standards, including barn, free range and organic eggs.