The British Egg Industry Council has said it will hold the Government to its commitment that there will be no lowering of animal welfare standards in any trade deals after the UK applied to join a free trade area with 11 Asia and Pacific nations earlier this month.
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership covers a market of around 500 million people. It was founded in 2018 and its members include Canada, Japan and New Zealand as well as Mexico, Peru, and Vietnam.
Mark Williams, British Egg Industry Council Chief Executive, said: “While we don’t anticipate any significant imports of egg products from the majority of CPTPP member countries, there remain important exceptions such as Mexico, which is a major egg producer and where we are not aware that there is any national hen welfare legislation in place. We will therefore hold the Government to its commitment that there will be no lowering of animal welfare standards in any trade deals. It would be morally wrong for egg products, produced to lower animal welfare standards, to be sold in the UK and this is something that consumers will not accept. We therefore want the Government to ensure that there is no compromise on hen welfare and that the UK’s high standards are protected in this or any future trade deals.”