Producers Squawk As EU Backs Bigger Chicken Pens
EU - European Union agriculture ministers have approved a law to guarantee minimum welfare standards for chickens reared in pens for meat, a regulation European poultry producers say will increase costs.
8 May 2007
2 minute read
The law would set a standard limit of 33 kilograms of chickens per square metre of living space, said EU spokesperson Philip Tod. It would mean higher overheads for poultry breeders and may cut sales for providers of day-old chicks.
"It is a significant increase in cost," said Tage Lysgaard of AVEC, a European poultry producers' association, adding that if European producers are unable to compete, "they should be compensated by the EU."
The EU produced 11.1 million tonnes of poultry in 2005.
Source: TheStar
