Supermarkets stop selling free-range eggs as bird flu sweeps farms
Shoppers in the UK can no longer buy free-range eggs as the country’s largest ever outbreak of avian influenza places birds under an ongoing lockdown.
As of yesterday, eggs sold in stores across the UK can no longer be deemed ‘free-range’ and will instead be labelled as ‘barn eggs’.
It comes after the UK has been gripped with a major outbreak of avian influenza, with measures enforced to stop the spread and limit its impact on poultry flocks.
Some farmers have been forced to keep birds inside for more than 16 weeks as a result. While free-range environments allow animals to move freely outside, the ‘barn eggs’ label means birds are kept indoors.
Supermarkets have begun changing signage to inform egg-lovers, with the view that free-range labelling will only come back once this bird lockdown has been lifted