Major New Viva! Campaign Set to Crack the Nation’s Egg Habit

Viva!’s Cracked campaign will spark much-needed conversations about the realities of egg production, as the farming sector continues to push back on proposed welfare reforms.

• Viva! has launched Cracked, a major new consumer awareness campaign underpinned by investigative footage and public outreach events, plus a direct challenge to government
• A life-size replica ‘enriched’ colony cage will take centre stage at public outreach events, inviting consumers to discover first-hand just how many hens are crammed inside each metal cage
• Cracked launches at a pivotal moment in UK farming policy, with the NFU explicitly supporting caging chickens and rejecting a proposed ban, while the British Egg Industry Council is pushing back on plans to ban chick culling
• Footage from three undercover investigations at UK farms form the evidential backbone of the campaign, showing that suffering is the norm across all production methods
• Starting 9 April, the campaign will take to the streets of UK cities, asking members of the public to lobby their local MP and adopt more compassionate food choices

Bristol, UK – For immediate release

The UK’s leading vegan campaigning charity, Viva!, has launched a powerful new consumer awareness campaign, Cracked, focused on the egg industry and the lives of laying hens at a critical moment in UK farming policy.

Shelling out for suffering

The UK is a nation of animal lovers – yet it’s also a nation in which systemic animal cruelty is hidden inside farm buildings and shrouded in clever marketing. Right now, around 7.3 million hens are trapped inside cages on factory farms while each year, 40 to 45 million male chicks are gassed within just 36 hours of hatching because they don’t lay eggs. Research shows that this isn’t what the public wants: 94 per cent of consumers are against keeping hens in cages and 85 per cent of consumers are against chick culling.

With eggs from caged hens used in a huge range of everyday pre-packaged foods and chick culling an inescapable part of the egg industry, Viva! says shoppers are unwittingly paying for suffering and slaughter. By showcasing facts about the egg industry as well as the raft of cruelty-free, healthy and sustainable vegan alternatives to eggs, Cracked will help consumers align their food choices with their beliefs.

Welfare reforms pit consumers against profits

Viva!’s Cracked campaign launches at a critical moment in UK farming policy. The Government’s Animal Welfare Strategy for England includes a proposed ban on enriched colony cages – yet the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) has come out in staunch opposition, placing the industry at direct odds with the majority of British consumers. The British Egg Industry Council (BEIC), meanwhile, is resisting proposals to introduce in-ovo sexing technology that would end the mass gassing of male chicks, despite polling suggesting that 76 per cent of consumers would pay more per egg for cull-free eggs.

The farming industry’s objections hinge on a recurring argument: that higher welfare standards here would reduce producers’ competitiveness unless the Government halts the import of cheaper products from lower-welfare countries. Viva! agrees that welfare reforms must be matched by robust import standards, but would like to take the opportunity to highlight that the argument “they do it too” is not an ethical position, nor one the public endorses.

As the Defra consultation closed, the industry made its resistance known. The Government now faces a choice between public interest and industry profit. With Cracked, Viva! is calling on ministers to hold firm – and the public to hold them to account.

Investigation footage: The truth laid bare

Footage taken at three egg production facilities – one ‘enriched’ colony cage facility (Heal Farms) and two ‘free range’ facilities (Kilforge Farm and Lower Bellamore Farm, both of which supply The Happy Egg Co.) – underpins Viva!’s Cracked campaign. Despite the differences in production methods, pictures and videos captured by Viva! Campaigns investigators reveal that overcrowding, stress and unnatural, industrialised environments are the norm, not the exception.

At the Cracked educational outreach events, members of the public will be granted an unprecedented glimpse at what really goes on inside egg facilities via tablets and headphones, while friendly Viva! volunteers will be answering questions about animal welfare and providing advice on the food swaps and simple lifestyle changes shoppers can make.

Getting hands-on with ‘hens’

Taking centre stage at Viva!’s Cracked outreach events will be a replica ‘enriched’ colony cage the same size as those currently in use across the country. To demonstrate just how cramped these cages are, members of the public will be invited to take part in an immersive, family-friendly activity. Lifesize plush hens will take the place of their live counterparts, as people discover – to their shock – just how many animals are forced to live inside each dirty, dingy cage.

Viva!’s campaigns manager, Katie Robinson, says: “By leveraging powerful footage of undercover investigations and immersive, thought-provoking public outreach events, Cracked reveals the true cost of consumers’ insatiable appetite for eggs: the suffering – and ultimately the lives – of tens of millions of sensitive, intelligent animals. The egg industry treats hens as nothing more than disposable egg-laying machines; we say that this cannot continue. It’s time to crack the nation’s egg habit once and for all.”

The first two Cracked outreach events will take place in Cardiff (John Batchelor Statue, The Hayes) on Thursday 9 April and Bath (Old Bond Street) on Saturday 9 May. Both will run from 11am to 2.30pm. Dozens more volunteer-run events will then take place across the country. All members of the public, including children, are welcome to stop by and take part in their local event – and try some free delicious cookies!

ENDS

Notes to Editors

• Viva! is a registered charity (number 1037486) and the UK’s leading vegan campaigning organisation
• Press representatives and journalists are warmly invited to attend Viva!’s Cracked outreach events in Bath and Cardiff in April and May
• For additional assets and information, contact Rachael Simpson-Jones, PR manager at Viva! – rachael@viva.org.uk