GCAW convened members of its Laying Hens Welfare Working Group on 24 January 2024.
The Group was pleased to welcome representatives from IQC for an expert briefing on a cage-free egg certification scheme which it is operating in China. Members were keen to understand the scope and requirements of this assurance scheme, processes for auditing, traceability and enforcement, and IQC’s plans to accelerate its adoption.
This certification is of particular interest to members because China is the largest egg producing country in the world with a 40% market share, but a relatively low proportion of cage-free production. On behalf of meeting attendees, GCAW thanks Dr Congcong Li, Dr Xiong Chuanwu and Henry Wang of IQC for their time to brief us on this important initiative.
Following this briefing, the GCAW Secretariat presented a new paper developed to provide members with guidance on alternatives to the practice of killing day-old chicks in egg supply chains.
