Who is the most friendly to laying hens in the six supermarkets? According to the survey conducted by the agency, Grand Runfa, Carrefour performed well in the all-China Federation and the United States incorruptible Society was the worst.

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Eggs are almost a must for Chinese people to eat every day, but the animal welfare of laying hens is still not given enough attention in Taiwan, and the proportion of laying hens raised in lattice cages is still high. The Taiwan Animal Society Research Association (hereinafter referred to as "Animation Society") conducted a survey on the sale of eggs by six major brands in Taiwan, and found that Da Yun Fat and Carrefour vendors sold "non-caged eggs" the highest proportion. Dayun Fat also promised not to sell caged eggs in 2025. The performance of local brands Quanlian and Maxim is regrettable. Not only do they not have a policy of being kind to laying hens and special areas for selling eggs, but only 4% of them sell non-caged eggs.

In order to show how inhumane it is to feed layers in a lattice cage, the agency specially ordered a hen stuffed toy to stuff four hens into a space about the size of A4 in actual proportion. The agency pointed out that the hens raised in this way will not be able to spread their wings all their lives, and all their physiological needs can be accomplished in cages that cannot be turned around. How can such unhealthy hens provide healthy eggs for human consumption?

Layers are kept in lattice cages and it is difficult even to turn around. (photo / Yang Yuyun) Taiwan's two local brands are at the bottom of the all-China Federation's non-caged eggs, accounting for only 4%.

Chen Zhifu, a researcher at the Animation Agency, said that since 2012, the European Union has completely banned the raising of laying hens in lattice cages, and this wave of "scrapping cages" has also swept the world, with more than 1900 international enterprises and more than 400 retail outlets actively formulating "non-cage feeding policies." including French brands Runfa, Carrefour and Costco in the UK.

Is Taiwan also actively following this trend of "scrapping cages"? According to the turnover of the channel and the number of branches in 2019, the agency selected six major channels, namely, Quanlian, Maxim, Dinghao, Carrefour (volume stores and convenience purchases), Da run Fat and Costco. A total of 63 stores and 261 samples were sampled in Liudu, and compared with the proportion of "non-cage-fed eggs", whether there is a "non-cage-feeding egg products" policy and whether the store has set up a "non-cage-feeding egg products" special area.

The results show that international brands such as RT-Mart and Carrefour outperform local brands, but they are still far from being compared with their own international parent companies. In the "proportion of non-cage-fed eggs", Da Yun Fat ranks first, with 37%, Carrefour second, volume stores 34%, convenient purchases 32%, and the best is only 10%. Costco sells only two types of eggs, one of which is not caged, but only in a few outlets, accounting for about 25% of the total.

The results of the two major local brands Quan Lian and Maxiang were the worst in the evaluation. Only 7% of the 27 eggs of the American incorruptible agency are non-cage-fed; of the 55 eggs of the all-China Federation, only 2 are non-cage-fed, accounting for only 4%.