Egg imports from Ukraine to the EU increased by over a third

Theoretically, 90 percent of Austrians’ needs could be met with local eggs. Nevertheless, we import around 1.4 million eggs every day. These are increasingly coming from Ukraine. Compared to the previous year, over a third more Ukrainian eggs were imported into the EU this year. Hannes Royerfounder of the association Land creates lifeexplains why this is a big problem:

“Things like keeping cages have been banned in Austria for a long time; here, well over one in three laying hens even lives in the open. Compared to the rest of the world, we are absolutely the island of the blessed. But as long as we import tons of eggs every day from countries like Ukraine, where chickens are still allowed to be kept in cages, it’s actually a matter of blindsiding. We finally need mandatory labeling of origin and husbandry for all animal products so that caged eggs can no longer end up on our plates without us noticing.”

Caged eggs remain anonymous

Although Austria sources the majority of its eggs from Germany, the eggs originate in countries such as Ukraine. From there they go to Germany or the Netherlands, for example, where they are processed and then resold.

Austrian grocery stores have only been able to buy fresh Austrian eggs for years. These must also be marked accordingly. Imported caged eggs can be found wherever food can remain anonymous, for example in processed products such as pasta, cake or mayonnaise.