Groupe Avril-controlled Matines, the largest egg brand in France, will need to invest between €50 million and €60 million in order to meet its target of having half of its output made up of high-welfare eggs by 2022, LesEchoes.fr has reported.
Eric Philippe, the director of the brand, says that its poultry farms will be updated one by one, in order to provide a higher output of free-range and organic eggs.
"We have been meeting with [the managers of] different sites, each one at a time, in order to figure out the best way that farm can make the change to further prioritising high-welfare eggs," he said.
The debts incurred by this process will take "12 to 15 years to pay back, with individual suppliers having already invested between €1 million and €2 million in 2012 in order to comply with updates to EU animal welfare legislation.
The company has an annual turnover of €300 million.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
