Welfare charity re-brand

The British Hen Welfare Trust has recently consolidated its position as the leading hen welfare charity that works to promote a strong British free range egg industry. Formerly known as the “Battery Hen Welfare Trust”, it has recently undergone a name change and re-brand to more accurately reflect the organisation’s wider scope.

Now called the British Hen Welfare Trust, the charity is well-known for its level-headed approach and willingness to work with farmers to find solutions; a recent Country Life ranking of the people with most influence on those who live in the countryside put the charity’s founder, Jane Howorth, 82nd, just two places behind David Cameron. The article described the charity as one “which educates the public about the egg industry in a remarkably sensible and non-hysterical way.”

In anticipation of the proposed EU directive banning conventional battery cages and the introduction of an enriched cage system in 2012, the British Hen Welfare Trust, in collaboration with South-West MP Colin Breed, has tabled two Early Day Motions (EDMs) calling for clear labelling of the production method used on all products containing eggs or egg derivatives, widely used in processed foods. This would allow consumers to distinguish egg products from hens housed in the enriched cage system which offers improved hen welfare, from those produced from the battery cage system which will continue to be used outside of the EU. Chief Exec Jane Howorth explains: “It is important that farmers who are investing in improved welfare systems are supported by the government, the retailers and the public. Consumers are showing a preference for animal products raised to higher welfare standards and clear labelling will allow them to give British farmers – and the laying hen – their backing, and not drive cheap, lower welfare imports of battery eggs from overseas.”

The British Hen Welfare Trust’s new name and logo, with the strap line “For a free range future”, are designed to acknowledge the changing industry and to better reflect its work encouraging consumers, retailers and farmers to go free range.

The British Hen Welfare Trust’s Devon farm will be featured in the BBC documentary ‘The Private Life of Chickens’ on BBC2, April 28th. For more information or to support the work of the charity please email info@bhwt.org.uk , log on to www.bhwt.org.uk or tel: 01769 580310