Action in Nice this Thursday, January 27! The L214 association is launching a campaign aimed at French supermarket chains. The objective: to encourage GMS to remove battery-farmed eggs from their shelves, as several of their European counterparts have already done.
From 11 am to 2 pm, a signature collection of postcards will take place at Place Masséna and then, at 3 pm, L214 activists will go to Casino, 2 rue Deudon, to meet with the store’s management to deliver the cards and present the issues of this campaign.
Laying Hens Tour
This stop in Nice is part of a tour that will travel across France in 2011. The first phase of this tour takes place in southern France from January 24 to February 4.*
In Germany, Austria, Great Britain, Belgium, and the Netherlands, most brands have already removed eggs from caged hens from their shelves. This is also the case for Coop, Italy’s leading retail brand. On the eve of the 2012 deadline, it is high time for French distributors to also commit to this path.
Distributors Banning Battery Eggs
The 2012 European Deadline
A European directive on the protection of laying hens will enter into force on January 1, 2012. To comply, battery farming operators have the choice between investing in new cages, thereby perpetuating the worst form of intensive farming, or turning to alternative farming methods. Now is the time to influence their decision.
How are eggs produced in France?
Cage Farming. 80% of hens are kept in battery cages. A whole life imprisoned in a windowless building, in a wire-floored cage. Impossible to move without disturbing others, to scratch the ground, to take a dust bath, to escape the overpopulation, noise, and stench. Gigantic farms where hens can die and decompose among their peers.
“Floor-raised” Farming. 3% of hens live in huge sheds, without cages, but in total confinement in an overcrowded environment.
“Free-range” and “Organic” Farming. 17% of hens live in the hundreds in large buildings with access to the outdoors.
Following a first L214 campaign, the hotel chain Novotel announced in spring 2010 that it was abandoning battery eggs for its breakfast offering. L214 is now turning towards supermarkets through a tour of France.
