Because chickens have had to stay indoors since early October because of bird flu, supermarkets are no longer allowed to sell free-range eggs from January 25. The boxes are then filled with free-range eggs. The poultry sector fears that this adjustment will kill the free-range egg.
If free-range chickens have not been outside for sixteen weeks, their eggs may no longer be sold as free-range eggs.
That is why ALDI no longer sells free-range eggs in some locations. Supermarket chains Albert Heijn, Jumbo and PLUS will label the boxes by 25 January at the latest to make it clear that they contain free-range eggs from that moment on. Products that normally contain free-range eggs will also contain free-range eggs from the end of January.
PLUS no longer sells barn eggs since 2012, but only free-range or organic eggs. But that chain will also replace free-range eggs with free-range eggs.
Partly because chicken farmers incur extra costs, free-range eggs are normally slightly more expensive than barn eggs. Albert Heijn, Jumbo and PLUS have announced that they will pay the same price to the farmers during the confinement obligation, even if their eggs are no longer allowed to be called free-range eggs.
Consumers will continue to pay the same for the boxes that previously contained free-range eggs. The packaging has been slightly modified or contains a different label.
Free-range egg already less popular due to higher price
To save on groceries, consumers have opted more often for free-range eggs instead of organic or free-range eggs in recent months.
Consumers bought no less than 25 percent less organic eggs, says Bart-Jan Oplaat of the Dutch Union of Poultry Farmers. Free-range eggs became 28 percent more expensive in a year not only due to the higher costs, but also due to extra demand, Statistics Netherlands previously reported.
Less strict rules apply to organic eggs
It is striking that eggs can still be sold with the organic stamp, because walking outside is also one of the conditions in that category.
According to Oplaat, plans were being discussed in the EU to equalize and end the 16-week rule for free range. But this consultation has been postponed to the third quarter of 2023.
It is possible that the egg of a chicken that was still outside in September 2022 – even if the cage obligation still applies – can still be sold as a free-range egg.
‘Risk that the free-range sector will disappear completely’
Oplaat fears that the current confinement obligation could give the free-range sector the death knell. In February 2022, the free-range egg also temporarily disappeared from the supermarket due to a cage obligation that applied at the time. There is no sight yet on the end of the restrictive measures.
“The question is whether chicken farmers will still invest in free-range. A laying hen lives for about two years. If it goes to slaughter soon and a farmer buys new laying hens, there may be too many uncertainties to go for free-range again. go,” says Oplaat. Normally, free range yields more, but that seems less attractive now.
Free range egg competition from Germany
According to the union leader, it is also a problem that German buyers of free-range eggs are looking elsewhere. In Germany itself there is no national penning obligation: so free-range eggs are still supplied there.
Oplaat thinks that supermarkets may go for foreign alternatives in order to be able to supply free range again. “Because otherwise the consumer will switch to a box that is cheaper and that contains free-range eggs just as well. They taste the same.”
