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.
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS