MEPs also called for an end to the practices of beak-trimming and castration of male chickens.
In Monday's debate, many MEPs expressed concern about lower standards in other parts of the world from which chicken is imported into the EU. An amendment was adopted calling on the European Commission to "control and where necessary prohibit imports of chickens from third countries which…do not observe similar rules on the welfare of chickens for meat production".
The proposed directive now goes to the Council of Ministers which has the final say on the text of the rules, as this is a directive in the field of agricultural policy.
For further details, see http://www.europarl.eu.int/news/expert/infopress_page/032-5196-45-2-7-904-20060209IPR05130-14-02-200...
Contact: Simon Duffin, Press Officer, European Parliament UK Office, sduffin@europarl.eu.int
Excerpts from Monday's debate (13 February 2006) in Strasbourg
Jeffrey Titford (UKIP, Eastern Region): Not only do the authors of this report wish to see this new regime inflicted on chicken meat producers in the 25 Member States, but they also make it clear that they expect non-EU countries to follow suit. Some chance, I would suggest!
I come from a country that already has very high standards of animal welfare and hygiene, which are vigorously policed. We do not need a supranational bureaucratic dictatorship to tell us how to look after our chickens. The authors of this report have laid an egg and I suggest they scramble it.
James Nicholson (UUP, Northern Ireland): Two weeks ago, a poultry-processing plant in Northern Ireland closed with the loss of over 400 jobs, not to mention the other jobs on the farms and in the feed compound mills. The reason given was that they could no longer compete with cheap imports from Asia and South America.
I support the part of the report that states, in Amendment 17, that we must insist on the same standards in third countries as in the European Union. At the moment we only pay lip service to this. We are tying the hands of our producers, our farmers, with bureaucracy and red tape, while allowing others to flood our markets with food that does not meet our standards.
This goes beyond the poultry industry: it is in the pig industry and in the red meat industry as well. They all have the same problem. I welcome higher standards, but I want the same everywhere.
David Martin (Labour, Scotland) : The proposal starts from the basis that the existing standards for keeping chicken for meat production are indeed very low in parts of the European Union at the present time, and that is demonstrated by painful leg disorders, enlargement of the heart, sudden death syndrome, ammonia burns on feet and so on.
Consumers worry about the conditions under which their chicken meat is produced and they worry about the health of the chicken they are eating. Properly reared chicken will be a better piece of meat when it goes on the plate.
Finally, I would like to address the issue of cost. I have looked at the various estimates of what this would cost the industry. Even if you take the highest estimate, if you aggregate that estimate down to the cost per bird, you are talking about one British penny per bird. It is not going to be animal welfare measures that make our industry uncompetitive.
Neil Parish (Conservative, South West) : I believe that high standards for animal welfare are good not only for chickens but also for farmers and consumers. It is not just about the number of chickens per square metre; it is also about the atmospheric conditions in the houses and whether there is straw or anything in them, so that the chickens have slightly better conditions during their very short lives.
When consumers go to the supermarket to buy chicken, it has to be clearly labelled. One of the problems is that you can often go into a supermarket now anywhere in the European Union and buy a chicken without being absolutely sure where it has come from and to what standards it has been produced.
The Commissioner must be aware that a lot of the imported chicken meat that comes into Europe arrives in a partially cooked state. That way it gets around some of the EU tariffs. It then goes straight into processed food, so that when we go to buy our chicken sandwich at a motorway service station, it will probably be made from imported chicken meat and we have no idea what sort of standards it has met.
Amendment 17 to Article 5 asks the Commission to bring in a clear labelling system for meat that is imported into the European Union after the legislation has been in place for six months. I urge the Commission to do that.
Debate of Monday 13 February 2006 in the speakers' original language:
http://www.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade3?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+CRE+20060213+ITEM-011+DOC+XML+V0//EN&LEVEL...
Report by Thijs Berman MEP " on the proposal for a Council directive laying down minimum rules for the protection of chickens kept for meat production":
http://www.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade3?L=EN&OBJID=108854&LEVEL=3&MODE=SIP&NAV=X&LSTDOC=N
Text adopted by Parliament:
http://www.europarl.eu.int/omk/sipade3?PUBREF=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2006-0053+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&L=EN&L...
Summary of procedure and proposal in the Legislative Observatory
http://www.europarl.eu.int/oeil/file.jsp?id=5253022
Legislation in force on Eur-Lex: Animal health and zootechnics:
http://europa.eu.int/eur-lex/lex/en/repert/035030.htm
Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development :
http://www.europarl.eu.int/activities/expert/committees/presentation.do?committee=1244&language=EN
UK MEPs in committees:
http://www.europarl.org.uk/guide/Gcommimain.html