The last 13 Belgian battery cage farmers quit

Almost all of Belgium’s egg producers have switched to enriched cages, some three weeks after the official deadline for the change over, Belgian newspaper De Standaard reports.

Last July, 65 poultry farmers were officially cautioned and fined for failing to comply with the EU ban on caged battery hens. Now, however, it appears only 13 have failed to comply. These last 13 poultry farmers have sold and sent their chickens to processing.

But because of their procrastination, these selfsame farmers face long waiting lines at the chicken abattoirs. The long slaughterhouse queue means that the last battery-farm hen will not disappear from Belgian territory till Sepetember.

Until then, the eggs produced from those hens still in existence will be either destroyed or processed in the non-food industry.

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