Free Range Eggs

Currently, after 12 weeks, free-range poultry has to be labelled as indoor reared when mandatory housing measures are introduced in response to bird flu

NFU poultry board chair, James Mottershead said AI vaccination programme for birds need to be safe to give consumers the confidence to continue eating poultry products, and must not disrupt exports

It is part of a package of measures announced by the Government, which Defra said would provide ‘certainty' for the horticulture and poultry sector

A passion for poultry led Ivory Arden to a career in the industry

It follows the launch of a free-range egg producer group

The project, led by APHA, will collect and analyse samples from a range of bird and mammal populations to better understand how the virus behaves

Amends to existing legislation means free-range eggs can continue to be labelled as such during mandatory housing measures, a move Defra said would cut ‘unnecessary red tape and costs for British producers'

Julie Ashfield, managing director of buying at Aldi, said: "We have been able to hit our 100% cage-free target more than a year early."

Poultry farmers in England and Scotland will no longer have to change how their eggs are labelled during housing orders due to avian influenza, saving farmers from costly labelling requirements

Industry says lack of scientific evidence behind hen welfare plan