WARNING, UPSETTING CONTENT: An undercover investigation has revealed that hens at a Leeds farm were kept in 'appalling' conditions
Three farms that supply 'free range' eggs to Aldi and Sainsbury's have been found to keep hens in 'appalling conditions'. The farms, which were supplying major supermarkets, have lost their RSPCA Assured status after an undercover investigation by the Animal Justice Project .
Even though RSPCA Assured rules say they must be allowed continuous outside access each day, the hens were not let out for up to four days. The AJP investigation follows recent promises by all major UK retailers to only sell 'cage-free' eggs - the same as free-range eggs - by 2025. But, shocking footage from some of these 'free-range' farms shows thousands of birds living on top of each other in messy, factory-like sheds.
At Leeds' Harper Farm, where 46,000 hens are housed in six separate sheds, investigators claim to have witnessed 'distressing' scenes of overcrowding, cannibalism, neglect and bullying. One worker in the farm's award-winning cafe was covertly filmed stating Harper Farm supplies eggs to James Potter Eggs, which are sold at Tesco, Co-Op, Sainsbury's and ASDA.
This farm, home to 21,500 hens, provides eggs to Sheriff's Wood Eggs, which then supplies eggs to Stonegate, a company that provides eggs to Ocado and Sainsbury's. Aldi confessed that they were supplied by one of the farms linked to Lucy Hinch during AJP's investigations, but they no longer are. "The suffering and death of laying hens appeared to be present across all the free-range egg farms I viewed footage of."
"Subordinate birds were filmed suffering prolonged attacks in this footage. This causes great suffering, and can lead to the death of attacked birds." Tesco neither confirmed nor denied whether any of the farms investigated supplied eggs to its stores, but asked reporters to contact the BRC 'for an industry-wide view'.
A Stonegate spokesperson said: "The care and welfare of our flocks are of the utmost importance to us and we take allegations of mistreatment of birds very seriously." "On receiving the footage, we immediately suspended the farm in question pending both our own investigation and the reports of qualified independent veterinarians."The site was audited by an RSPCA auditor during an unannounced inspection and separately the British Industry Egg Council have also carried out an audit."
"Free range eggs account for around 60 per cent of all UK eggs and we are confident the video does not reflect standards on free range farms across the country, which are adhering to the highest standards of safety and welfare."
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