The rearing of chickens in cages was prohibited throughout the European Union in 2012 but has been allowed to continue in so called “established” battery farms.
In Austria, SPAR removed battery farmed eggs from its range back in 2004 and its fellow ASPIAG partners in Northeast Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia have now set themselves the goal of following suit and eliminating eggs from cage-reared chickens to solely offer free-range and organically farmed eggs.
To date, the lack of production capacity in the respective countries has prevented this move. The plan is that SPAR in Northeast Italy, Slovenia, Hungary and Croatia will reduce its share of caged eggs annually by 10% in order to enable suppliers to make the necessary adjustments and investments. Starting with different proportions in the country ranges, the aim is that caged eggs will have disappeared from all SPAR shelves in these markets by 2025 at the latest.
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About SPAR Austria
The origins of SPAR in Austria date back to 1954 when the first SPAR organisation was established, after being granted the licence to operate the SPAR Brand by SPAR International. The current SPAR AG was created in 1970 when the original founding families joined with other regional wholesalers to form SPAR Austria AG – a 100% privately owned Austrian company.