Animal rights advocates on Friday protested at the branches of famed restaurant chain Din Tai Fung in Taipei’s Xinyi District (信義), urging restaurant management to curb the use of battery cage eggs.
The Environment and Animal Society of Taiwan (EAST), a member of the Open Wing Alliance (OWA) — a coalition comprised of 70 animal rights groups from 40 countries — staged the protest along with other 17 animal rights groups from 13 countries.
EAST director Chen Yu-min (陳玉敏) said that battery cage eggs are produced by hens kept in battery cages that are the size of an A4 sheet of paper.
Photo: CNA
Unlike free-range chickens, hens kept in battery cages cannot take sand baths, which allows parasites to be removed from their body, Chen said, adding that fipronil, an insecticide, must then be used because of the chickens’ inability to clean themselves.
“The European Union officially banned battery cage eggs in 2012, and Din Tai Fung’s London branch has been exclusively using free range eggs since its establishment this year,” she said.
Chen said that her organization has been attempting to communicate with Din Tai Fung in Taiwan for nearly two years, but to no avail.
Amy Odene, global corporate relations coordinator at The Humane League, said that, following a protest, US branches promised to phase out battery cage eggs by the end of this year. The original deadline was 2025.
“It was the first protest in the US, and it succeeded,” Chen said.
That victory demonstrates that Din Tai Fung headquarters understands the growing global awareness of animal welfare, she said.
If it switches to free-range eggs, Din Tai Fung could be a driver for farmers to raise chickens in a more humane way, she added.
Din Tai Fung public relations officer Wu Yi-jung (吳怡蓉) said that the brand is licensed out to overseas markets. The international branches’ management teams choose ingredients based on local cultures, needs and availability.
Wu said that eggs used by Ding Tai Fung in Taiwan are in compliance with the legal regulations set by the government.
Evaluations are still being made as to when to completely phase out the use of caged chicken eggs, she said.
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a
RSS