Briefings for Britain, October 27, Catherine McBride
The Guardian has recently published an article about ‘low welfare eggs from caged hens’ being imported into the UK apparently in ‘staggering numbers’. The Guardian is also concerned that the quality of imported eggs in the UK will decline even further as the CPTPP trade deal will ‘give the green light to produce being imported from countries including Mexico.’ The Guardian also reports that the head of public affairs at the RSPCA believes that the British public would be horrified if they knew “low-welfare egg products are being sneaked into this country under the radar” and that dried or liquid eggs “don’t have to be labelled and tend to be sourced on price, not provenance”.
But is any of this true?
- The UK already has a trade agreement with Mexico which includes an import quota for eggs. This trade agreement was negotiated by the saintly EU in 2005. It has a quota for 300 tonnes of fertilised eggs that can be imported at half the EU’s most Favoured Nation rate of €35 per 1000 eggs. The EU also gave Mexico a tariff-free quota for 5000 tonnes of HS0408 dried or processed eggs.
Under the UK’s continuity agreement with Mexico, the UK took 14% of the EU’s quota. That is equal to 41 tonnes of fertilised eggs, 136 tonnes of dried or processed egg yolks and 409 tonnes of egg albumin. But despite this quota, the UK has never imported any fresh, fertilised, dried or powdered eggs from Mexico, at least not since 2003, according to COMTrade.
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