The average Taiwanese consumes about 322 eggs every year, but pricing competition has prevented local farmers from embracing animal-friendly egg production methods, a Council of Agriculture official said yesterday.
Department of Animal Industry Deputy Director Wang Chung-shu (王忠恕) made the remark in response to animal rights groups’ calls for cage-free eggs.
With the support of animal rights groups, hypermarket chain Carrefour Taiwan yesterday announced that it would only sell cage-free eggs under its brand name by 2025 and would push its suppliers to achieve the same goal.
By the end of this year, its nationwide stores are to set up special zones to promote cage-free eggs, it said.
Later yesterday, the company and a group of animal rights advocates and egg farmers attended a meeting held by Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chen Man-li (陳曼麗) at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei to address egg production.
Open Wing Alliance vice president Aaron Ross displayed pictures taken at Taiwanese egg farms, showing chickens crowded in battery cages, and called on the farmers to join the global trend of cage-free egg farming.
The council has no timetable to ban battery cages, as more communication with egg farmers is needed, Wang said.
People are used to buying eggs at low prices, which keeps poultry farmers from adopting cage-free farming that might raise egg prices, Wang said, but added that the council would continue promoting animal-friendly egg production methods.
Animal-friendly methods refer to hens raised in enriched cages or barns, or ranging free, according to the Definition and Guideline of Friendly Eggs Production System (雞蛋友善生產系統定義與指南) released by the council in 2014.
Most egg farmers at the meeting said they do not object to rearing free-range chickens, but added that they are deterred by potentially higher costs and limited market access.
The cost of free-range poultry farming is three times that of caged farming, a Pingtung County chicken farmer surnamed Tu (涂) said, adding that he would consider free-range farming if retailers accept costlier eggs.
Carrefour cares more about prices than farmers, but with public awareness about food security rising, it decided to sell healthier and safe products, Carrefour Taiwan Foundation chief executive Marilyn Su (蘇小真) said.
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake struck off the coast of Hualien County in eastern Taiwan at 7pm yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The epicenter of the temblor was at sea, about 69.9km south of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 30.9km, it said. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake’s intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County’s Changbin Township (長濱), where it measured 5 on Taiwan’s seven-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 4 in Hualien, Nantou, Chiayi, Yunlin, Changhua and Miaoli counties, as well as
Credit departments of farmers’ and fishers’ associations blocked a total of more than NT$180 million (US$6.01 million) from being lost to scams last year, National Police Agency (NPA) data showed. The Agricultural Finance Agency (AFA) said last week that staff of farmers’ and fishers’ associations’ credit departments are required to implement fraud prevention measures when they serve clients at the counter. They would ask clients about personal financial management activities whenever they suspect there might be a fraud situation, and would immediately report the incident to local authorities, which would send police officers to the site to help, it said. NPA data showed
ENERGY RESILIENCE: Although Alaska is open for investments, Taiwan is sourcing its gas from the Middle East, and the sea routes carry risks, Ho Cheng-hui said US government officials’ high-profile reception of a Taiwanese representative at the Alaska Sustainable Energy Conference indicated the emergence of an Indo-Pacific energy resilience alliance, an academic said. Presidential Office Secretary-General Pan Men-an (潘孟安) attended the conference in Alaska on Thursday last week at the invitation of the US government. Pan visited oil and gas facilities with senior US officials, including US Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum, US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright, Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy and US Senator Daniel Sullivan. Pan attending the conference on behalf of President William Lai (賴清德) shows a significant elevation in diplomatic representation,
The Taipei City Reserve Command yesterday initiated its first-ever 14-day recall of some of the city’s civilian service reservists, who are to undergo additional training on top of refresher courses. The command said that it rented sites in Neihu District (內湖), including the Taipei Tennis Center, for the duration of the camp to optimize tactical positioning and accommodate the size of the battalion of reservists. A battalion is made up of four companies of more than 200 reservists each, it said. Aside from shooting drills at a range in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), the remainder of the training would be at
RSS