Two Thirds Of Romanian Eggs Come From Battery-Raised Chickens

Two thirds of eggs produced in Romania come from chickens raised in batteries with surfaces smaller than that of a sheet of A4 paper and often fed with genetically modified feed and synthetic vitamins, said Tuesday Gabriel Paun of animal protection organization Vier Pfoten.
Vier Pfoten announced Tuesday the initiation of a campaign aiming to raise awareness to the fact that two thirds of eggs produced in Romania come from chickens raised improperly, which are fed with synthetic vitamins and medicine, and most of the time the feed contains genetically modified organisms.

"This form of feeding reflects on the quality of the eggs. Producers need to stop using the eggs from these chickens, and supermarkets need to offer buyers choices, namely they need to sell eggs from chickens raised in open space as well," Paun said.

He asked producers to stamp eggs and called attention on the fact that product stamps starting with the number two or three need to be avoided. The Vier Pfoten representative added the best eggs to eat are those whose stamps start with zero or one, but these eggs are very hard to find.

According to the association, countries such as Austria and Switzerland banned the raising of chickens in batteries, and starting with January 1, 2012, all EU producers will be forced to give up this system of raising chickens.