Flipping fabulous cage-free egg pancakes!

Freedom Food - Rhubarb and Ginger Pancakes © Simon Smith / Freedom Food Photolibrary

21.02.12

This Pancake Day we're celebrating the fact that more than 50 per cent of eggs produced in the UK are now from cage-free hens, which makes for some flipping fabulous cage-free egg pancakes!

It's a massive step forward for animal welfare, especially when you consider that in 1995 more than eight out of ten eggs (86 per cent) were laid by hens kept in cruel barren battery cages.

But did you know hens are still kept in cages?

Not all eggs are cage-free

On the downside about 16 million hens in the UK are still kept in cages with less usable space than an A4 sheet of paper each.

After years of waiting, an EU ban on conventional barren battery cages came into force on 1 January 2012. But so-called 'enriched' battery cages are still allowed.

Remember to check the ingredients too

And we mustn't forget that many of the eggs from caged hens are used in catering at restaurants or as ingredients in ready-made meals and food such as cakes, sandwiches and ice-cream.

For Shrove Tuesday (21 February) supermarket shelves will be stocked with batter mix and ready-made pancakes, some of which could contain eggs laid by hens in cages.

Choosing cage-free eggs

Two hens outdoors on grass © Andrew Forsyth / RSPCA Photolibrary

Your shopping choices really do make a difference to the lives of millions of laying hens.

Eggs

All egg boxes are labelled with how the hens were farmed. Always choose these labels:

Freedom Food eggs
free-range eggs
organic eggs
barn eggs.

Eggs in ingredients

The following supermarkets use cage-free eggs in their own brand products:

Marks & Spencer (and all other products too)
Waitrose
Sainsbury's
The Co-operative.

Or look out for the following ranges which all use cage-free eggs as ingredients:

Extra Special range at Asda
The Best range at Morrisons
Finest range at Tesco.

More about eggs

Guide to choosing cage-free eggs © RSPCA

To find out more, download our free guide:

Your guide to choosing cage-free eggs (2.81MB PDF)

Plus visit our laying hens campaign page where you'll find a tasty recipe for Rhubarb and Ginger Pancakes.

We hope you have a flipping fabulous Pancake Day!