Egg Industry Milestone: Keeping Male Chicks Alive!

Italian authorities have decided to ban the slaughter of male chicks in the egg industry, a move praised by animal rights organizations as it better protects farmed animals.

“This is very important news for animals in Italy and is truly historic,” states Alice Trombetta, executive director at Animal Equality Italy. “We are very happy that Parliament has finally approved this amendment that regulates one of the most controversial aspects of the egg production industry.”

The Italian egg industry would, every year, get rid of 25 to 40 million unwanted young birds, and this reality spurred Animal Equality Italy to launch a petition about chick culling; it gathered more than 100,000 signatures in two years. Assovi, the trade association of Italy’s egg producers, is in favor of in-ovo sexing technology, a process through which the sex of a chick is identified before it hatches, thus ensuring that only female birds are born.