To better promote the development of the cage-free eggs industry in China, closely follow the needs of stakeholders and promote communication among relevant parties, Cage-free Egg Stakeholder Seminar & Standard Review Meeting on Farm Animal Welfare Requirement: Non-cage Lying Hens was held on April 20-21, 2023. This meeting was co-organized by International Cooperation committee of Animal Welfare(ICCAW) and Compassion in World Farming (CIWF), and successfully concluded in Yangzhou.

On April 21, Cage-free Egg Stakeholder Seminar was held in Yangzhou. This meeting brought together representatives from promotion agencies such as Compassion in World Farming, Accommodation Branch of China Chamber of Tourism, Global Food Partners, Lever China, scientific research institutions such as Shanghai Academy of Agricultural Sciences, manufacturers such as Aimu Agriculture, Happy Egg, Jiangsu Tiancheng,service providers such as Big Dutchman as well as purchasers such as Unilever, Costa Coffee, RT-Mart. They have conducted full exchanges on how to promote the development of domestic cage-free egg industry.

The seminar was chaired by Jeff Zhou, China Chief Representative of CIWF 

 Fan Guangyu, Executive President of Accommodation Branch of China Chamber of Tourism, said in his report that after 40 years of development of the hotel industry, internal problems and contradictions are still intertwined. It is necessary to make a overall reform, but attention should be paid to the competition of social responsibility. He noted that there are more than 13.4 million guest rooms in China and it is estimated that the number of eggs purchased each year is about several billion.

Fan Guangyu, Executive President of Accommodation Branch of China Chamber of Tourism

In recent years, ESG has become increasingly important in the hotel industry as an indicator to measure the sustainable management ability of enterprises. Hotel products contain the concept of ESG meet the psychological needs of some consumers for social responsibility, so they are more willing to pay for the "high premium" of such products.

The hotel industry's focus on ESGs is mainly in the corporate environment. At present, international hotel brands’ practical experience in ESG has been in the forefront of the industry, while the local hotel brands affected by cost pressure have been developing slow. We call for local hotel brands to integrate ESG concept into the brand strategy, hotel construction, operation management and other decision-making links to enhance the hotel brand value and influence.

Shi Siyao, Research Officer of CIWF China, said in her speech that the European Union will introduce legislation requiring the abolition of all cage-rearing by 2027, under the strong push of CIWF.

Shi Siyao, Research Officer of CIWF China

 As the global demand for cage-free eggs continues to grow, enterprises should also pay attention to the welfare of laying hens. She introduced the four main welfare problems of laying hens, the practical method of welfare assessment of laying hens, and the elements of high-welfare laying hens breeding system, which provided a scientific transformation way for enterprises.

Zhang Pei, Deputy Secretary-General of ICCAW, delivered a report entitled "Global Cage-free Trend and Domestic Market Analysis". Through data and policies, she made a detailed analysis of the unstoppable trend of cage-free egg rearing in foreign countries, and also analyzed the domestic cage-free egg purchasing market, production market and consumption market.

Zhang Pei, Deputy Secretary-General of ICCAW

 She noted that according to incomplete statistics, at least 56 companies have committed to use 100% cage-free eggs on the Chinese mainland, which will lead to annual demand of 1.15 billion cage-free eggs after 2025, and the current supply gap is huge. She introduced that currently there are three kinds of recognition methods for cage-free eggs in China: Golden Egg Production Award, third-party certification and National Famous New Animal Welfare Specialty, which provide new operation ideas for enterprises.

After the report session, parallel seminar were held, namely "From Farming to Sales-Discussion on Cage-free Egg Production" and "From Commitment to Procurement - Discussion on Cage-free egg Procurement".

The advantages, problems and needs of cage-free breeding were discussed as

well as the future development direction and solutions. All parties engaged in free exchanges to further deepen cooperation.

In order to give participants a more understanding of cage-free egg farms and deep processing of egg products, the conference team organized participants to visit cage-free egg farms and egg processing plants in Tiancheng, Jiangsu Province, the Director Unit of ICCAW. Jiangsu Tiancheng, a cage-free egg supplier to Costco, Disney, Marriott and other brands, introduced its advantages of cage-free laying hens in the breeding process and its experience in brand building.

In addition, the meeting also review the group standard "Farm Animal Welfare Requirements: Non-cage Lying Hens". According to the revision procedure, the expert group listened to the specification of standard drafting and opinion collecting. After discussion, all the experts approved the revision of the standard, then the drafting team will further modify and improve the standard based on the expert opinions, and apply for approval and release as soon as possible.