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.
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) caucus yesterday said it opposes the introduction of migrant workers from India until a mechanism is in place to prevent workers from absconding. Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on Thursday told the Legislative Yuan that the first group of migrant workers from India could be introduced as early as this year, as part of a government program. The caucus’ opposition to the policy is based on the assessment that “the risk is too high,” KMT caucus secretary-general Lin Pei-hsiang (林沛祥) said. Taiwan has a serious and long-standing problem of migrant workers absconding from their contracts, indicating that
SPACE VETERAN: Kjell N. Lindgren, who helps lead NASA’s human spaceflight missions, has been on two expeditions on the ISS and has spent 311 days in space Taiwan-born US astronaut Kjell N. Lindgren is to visit Taiwan to promote technological partnerships through one of the programs organized by the US for its 250th national anniversary. Lindgren would be in Taiwan from Tuesday to Saturday next week as part of the US Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs’ US Speaker Program, organized to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) said in a statement yesterday. Lindgren plans to engage with key leaders across the nation “to advance cutting-edge technological partnerships and inspire the next generation of scientists and engineers,”
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