The government has set minimum standards for three methods of egg production to promote a more humane treatment of hens, even if it could result in higher egg prices, the Council of Agriculture said.
The council said in a statement yesterday that egg producers using a “cage” system, in which hens are continuously housed in cages, should allow each hen space of at least 750cm2, which is just more than the area covered by an A4 piece of paper.
Hens raised in a “cage-free” system, which means the hens are housed in sheds or have access to an outdoor floor, should be given an average of more than 800cm2, the council said.
Egg producers using a “free-range” production system, where hens can roam freely in indoor barns or covered chicken coops, must provide an indoor space averaging more than 800cm2 per hen.
Producers can voluntarily apply the new rules and receive certification from industry groups and animal protection groups, which will foster a consumer market for “animal-friendly” eggs that cost more than those produced using conventional means, the council said.
The promotion of the three more animal-friendly systems will take longer than initially expected, the council said, because roughly 95 percent of the nation’s eggs still come from hens confined in “battery” cages, which are lined up in rows and share dividing walls, like battery cells.
A battery-cage egg costs about NT$2 to NT$3, much less than the average of NT$6 to NT$10 consumers pay for a free-range egg, according to local media reports.
The council said it has consulted similar initiatives carried out in the US, New Zealand, Australia and Japan, where animal welfare is promoted, to develop the standards.
According to a study released in October last year by the Agricultural Marketing Resource Center at Iowa State University, specialty eggs represent a niche worth examining because of an increased attention to consumers’ health, environmental concerns and animal welfare issues.
Organic eggs, free-range eggs, cage-free eggs and omega-3 eggs are some examples of niches that are of interest and have experienced growth in the US marketplace, the center said.
The EU has banned the sale of eggs from hens kept in battery cages since Jan. 1, 2012.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS