Rewe Group has announced that two of its supermarkets, Rewe and Penny, will no longer stock conventional own-brand eggs sourced from laying hens with trimmed beaks.
The German Federal Ministry for Food and Agriculture and poultry trade associations agreed to stop the controversial practice by the start of 2017, meaning the stock of trimmed-beak hens would be gone by 2018. Rewe has said it will bring that date forward.
In a statement released by the group, it said the commitment is part of its 'Pro Planet' egg project, which has been monitoring laying hens with untrimmed beaks for some time.
Its Penny stores have carried cage-free eggs from hens with untrimmed beaks since January 2016. "In the pilot project with the REWE Spitz & Bube brand, beaks are left untrimmed and, for the first time in conventional egg production, the male chicks are not killed," the statement read.
The German government has previously called on the EU to place a Union-wide ban on the practice.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by John Golden. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
