Sainsbury’s challenged on 100% RSPCA Assured

Published on : 17 Mar 2023

The barn eggs are supplied by Italian supplier Atlante Ingredients and are selling for £1.35 per half dozen, which is a departure from Sainsbury’s policy to stock only free-range eggs.

Sainsburys make a point of promoting their strict adherence to stocking “100% RSPCA Assured Eggs”.

So it comes as no surprise that when they started importing eggs from Italy in November, it sparked an angry back- lash from UK producers and consumers alike.

Many have taken to social media to voice their frustration and anger at the situation.

One producer quoted on an egg industry forum, ‘Telegram’ said “Very good of the RSPCA to say nothing on the matter. Even better that their website wrongly suggests that all eggs at Sainsburys are RSPCA Assured. That is unless they are now certifying Italian barn eggs? They (RSPCA Scheme) happily take membership fees from pullet readers, laying farms and packers along the way. Every farmer should question why they continue to pay their fees in return for no support”

The RSPCA Assured Scheme, (formerly known as Freedom Food) demands that members pay a fee, and they then must adhere to the RSPCA’s detailed animal welfare standards. Farms are visited regularly by an RSPCA Assessor to ensure good animal welfare. The fees more than doubled in the summer of 2021, for egg producer members and they introduced new charges for services that had previously been provided at no extra cost.

There is a one-off joining fee of £36. A site revisit is then charged at £199 and an additional farm livestock officer visit at £325. A fee of £125 is also charged for derogation and exception requests.

At the time, Robert Gooch, BFREPA CEO said: “It is always disappointing when producer costs increase, particularly when egg prices are in the doldrums or are – in some cases – falling”.

UK welfare standards should apply to imports
Last year the RSPCA joined the National Farmers Union to launch a new report calling for transparency and consistency in animal welfare standards in our trade policy. Furthermore through their post-Brexit poll they ascertained that the UK public care about what they eat and how it is produced. The poll showed that more than 80% of UK citizens believe that UK animal welfare standards should apply to imports. The RSPCA are quoted last June as saying “we need to maintain standards on product imports to the UK by stating that produce entering the country should always be produced to those same, important, high standards.

Yet clearly the Italian eggs imported by Sainsburys belong to no such assurance scheme? This was verified by a RSPCA spokesperson how explained that “Sainsbury’s own-branded eggs are all RSPCA Assured, but they do stock other branded eggs which aren’t”.

The barn eggs are supplied by Italian supplier Atlante Ingredients and are selling for £1.35 per half dozen, which is a departure from Sainsbury’s policy to stock only free-range eggs.

A Sainsbury’s spokesperson said: "Currently supermarkets are experiencing some supply challenges with eggs. At Sainsbury’s we are committed to sourcing British as much as possible and continue to work hard with our suppliers across the UK to ensure customers can buy what they need. To help maintain availability we are also temporarily sourcing some branded eggs from Italy, which will be clearly labelled on the packaging."

Furthermore they added “we have a longstanding commitment to only stock cage free eggs, which is why we are temporarily sourcing the Italian eggs. 100% of our own brand eggs are also committed to being RSPCA assured, our Italian eggs are sold under the Atlanta brand.

Sainsbury’s has sold RSPCA Assured eggs since 2009 and still remains the largest retailer of RSPCA Assured products.

A RSPCA Assured spokesperson said: “We can confirm that all Sainsbury's own-brand eggs are 100% RSPCA Assured, and whether barn or free-range, eggs carrying the RSPCA Assured label are always higher welfare.

“However, we are aware that some supermarkets are temporarily stocking imported eggs due to shortages. We therefore encourage customers to continue to look for the RSPCA Assured logo to ensure that the eggs they buy meet the RSPCA's market leading higher welfare standards.”

Shortages due to many factors not just AI
Whilst many retailers blamed the shortage on the Avian Influenza outbreaks, BFREPA CEO Robert Gooch has accused supermarkets of using the outbreaks as an excuse. Indeed concerns that egg buyers were not doing enough to assist producers facing mounting production costs were made apparent as far back as spring last year but were largely ignored.

Gooch is quoted as saying back in November that “Instead of investing in and managing a proper British supply chain, which is what [the retailers] claim to do for their customers, they have broken that supply chain and they are now importing substandard products,”. He also warned that importing eggs would undermine consumer confidence in Sainsbury’s.

Comments from the independent United Kingdom Egg Producers Facebook page, for the “Laid In Britain” quality assurance scheme for local producers include:-

“I am one of the organic egg producers who basically couldn’t afford to carry on producing eggs at a massive loss and closed the doors 1 year ago. I had 8000 organic laying hens supplying the major supermarkets I put the ball in their court but they wouldn’t even pay the cost of production. The supermarkets are using the same tactics buying New Zealand lamb travelling half way round the world to lower the price of uk produced lamb although it beggars belief how this can happen , oh our government sold us out again”

Another said “Just stop buying your eggs from supermarkets and support local farmers and producers. Start with eggs and then look for veg, spuds and meat. It's what we should all be doing anyway. Buy from locals”

One commentator also laid some of the blame at the door of consumers who have a choice:- “It's not just eggs it's all British food products... shame on all these supermarkets but more shame on the British public for letting them do it”

When the issue of Avian Influenza being the reason for the shortfall was raised one person replied saying “Sadly not true, this was a press release that the supermarkets put out to create a smoke screen so they can undercut British farmers. They got caught out and farmers spoke up. This is pure retaliation. There is food on the farms, there is a huge problem with the supply”

“the supermarkets declared that because of AI there would be a supply chain issue but it simply isn't the case , the national flock will still keep laying , the simple fact is... the producers have been driven into the ground. The truth of the matter is the farms have either gone under or reduced their output and diversified.

Why are we importing eggs?
Many consumers are also asking “Why are we importing eggs? To which others are replying “The supermarkets are not paying the farmers a viable wage for their produce, farmers have spoken up and in retaliation the supermarkets are now importing eggs instead of backing British farming.”

“People have no idea the money that's going into the inputs for egg production. The price of feed grain is nearly triple what it was 2 years ago, but is your egg price tripled? No! So farmers are Still having to take the hit and thus the profit margin drops even closer to the irrecoverable red line”.

“It's about them putting their profits first above their contracts and agreements with British producers. They're not willing to share a little margin 'hit' with the farmers and egg producers.”

To borrow a quote from another aspect of farming, it would seem that neither the RSPCA nor the retailers can ‘pull the wool’ over everyone’s eyes.