A systematic review
This report aims to provide an objective economic analysis of the transition to cage-free housing in the European Union's egg and pigmeat industries. This report is based on the strongest and most relevant available scientific studies, as identified by a global systematic literature review. From several thousand publications, including both peer-reviewed studies and grey literature, we identified 13 high-quality sources for estimating the costs of egg production; 10 for the costs of pigmeat production; and 4 for consumer prices.
Overall, our conclusions demonstrate that the transition towards cage-free housing is likely to have a relatively small impact on producers and consumers, particularly if appropriate support is offered by official bodies in the EU and its Member States. Additionally, the experiences of other jurisdictions around the world provide evidence that an implementation timeline of around 3-5 years is reasonable. Read more in the full report below.