Sainsbury's halts battery egg sales

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From February 5, three years before an EU ban on battery produced eggs comes into force, the supermarket will only sell eggs from uncaged birds.

Sainsbury's had promised to stop selling the eggs next year but in bringing forward its plans, poultry campaigners say it has marked itself out from Asda, Tesco and Morrisons.

Sainsbury's said more than half a million hens would no longer be kept in battery cages while 2.5 million fewer battery farmed eggs would go on sale each week in the UK.

Rowen West-Henzell, food business manager for Compassion in World Farming, said: "It's fantastic news. When Sainsbury's makes a move like this it has huge impact, making animal welfare more mainstream.

"They are doing the right thing on behalf of the consumer. My question to the other retailers is why aren't they responding? They've got a lot of catching up to do."

Under new European legislation conventional battery cages will be banned in 2012. Poultry farmers will be allowed to build larger "enriched" cages which give hens more space.

But Sainsbury's is doing away with cages altogether.

Sainsbury's decision follows similar moves by Marks & Spencer, Waitrose and the Co-op.

The supermarket also aims to stop using caged eggs as ingredients in own-label food and drink by 2012. Its Kids and Taste the Difference ranges already use only free range eggs.