Waitrose has welcomed yesterday’s statement by the Government that it will press ahead with outlawing the production of battery-farmed eggs by 2012.
Environment Secretary Hilary Benn had been under pressure to postpone the proposed EU ban.
Waitrose said that by the end of this year it will have switched entirely to free-range across any own label product where egg is used as an ingredient. Less than 5% of the egg in Waitrose products remains to be converted, it added.
The supermarket also welcomed the campaigns currently being run by chefs Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall and Jamie Oliver, which are raising awareness of chicken welfare standards.
Waitrose pointed out that its cheapest chicken has the lowest stocking density (excluding free-range and organic) of any major supermarket, with 20% fewer birds in each stock.
