BFREPA & BEIC raise “serious and significant concerns” to RSPCA

Published on : 15 Nov 2023

The British Free Range Egg Producers Association (BFREPA) and the British Egg Industry Council (BEIC) has sent a joint letter to the RSPCA Assured certification scheme outlining “serious and significant” concerns over the introduction of new standards in the latest standards.

Under the new RSPCA Assured standards, free range producers will be required to build verandas outside their sheds, and install windows for natural daylight to enter bird housing. This will be incumbent on all new sheds and also those being modified from May 2024. It will apply to all sheds from 2030.

In the letter, BFREPA and the BEIC estimate the total cost to producers will be in excess of £275m. There is no premium paid to farmers producing RSPCA Assured eggs, so how producers are expected to cover the cost of these modifications is unknown.

Both parties await the outcome of the invitation to meet.