Choose free range eggs
Making the decision to buy only free range eggs will help to improve the lives of millions of hens in the UK. As more consumers demand better conditions for farmed animals more producers will have to listen.
The problem
A 1996 report commissioned by the European Union concluded that "because of its small size and its barrenness, the battery cage as used at present has inherent severe disadvantages for the welfare of hens'.
Under EU law, each battery hen has an allotted floor space of just 550 square cm - less than an A4 sheet of paper.
RSPCA research found that, as well as causing brittle bone disease, the inability to behave naturally by foraging, scratching and dust bathing, caused the animals to become stressed. Nearly 70% of Britain's egg-laying hens are still kept in battery cages.
What you can do
In the UK, the average consumer eats 170 eggs per year. Of these, 140 are eaten as eggs bought in the shell, whilst 30 will be consumed in processed form such as in cakes and ready-made meals.
If you insist on only eating free-range eggs, you can make a big difference to hens' welfare by forcing the market to adopt animal-friendly practices. Britain now has more than 8 million free-range egg-laying hens, largely thanks to consumer demand.
M&S will only stock free range eggs, and if any of our products contains eggs we guarantee they will also be free range.
How to do it
All free-range eggs sold in the UK are printed with an number that identifies how they were produced. The number 3 means it was produced by a caged hen and 2 means it's a barn egg (better conditions, but still not ideal). The numbers you should look for are 1, which identifies a free-range egg, and 0 for organic.
Pledge to go 100% free-range and you'll help to secure improved welfare conditions for millions of hens.
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