Animal Rebellion campaigners occupied the egg aisle of a Nottingham supermarket. Three individuals from the climate and animal group peacefully protested in the Castle Marina Sainsburys store on Saturday, February 25, and held placards calling for the UK to adopt a safer and sustainable plant-based food system free from the spread of zoonotic diseases, animal suffering, climate breakdown, and food shortages.
Similar actions have also taken place in London, Manchester and Exeter, with Sainsbury’s stores being targeted as the group claim Sainsbury’s sell more than 50% of all RSPCA-assured products in the UK. A scheme that the group allege is allowing horrific abuses to happen to animals while leading us to believe that they are well cared for in ‘high-welfare’ farms.
Nottingham-based Engineering Manager, Sam Wessel, was one of the individuals protesting. The 40-year-old said: "I'm here today because I've learned that supermarkets like Sainsbury's are hiding the truth of the egg industry from us.
"Labels like 'free range' and 'RSPCA Assured' are intentionally misleading, hiding a system they know spreads disease and treats sentient birds as objects to slaughter and discard, all while farmers struggle to get by and supermarkets hike up prices amidst shortages and bare shelves. It's time Sainsbury's and other supermarkets told the truth about eggs and helped shoppers choose kinder, plant-based alternatives."
The protests took place after there had been concern earlier in the week over empty supermarket shelves. The RSPCA has reminded people that RSPCA Assured is the organisation's farm assurance label, and when customers see the logo on products they can be reassured that the animals have been reared to the strict welfare standards of the charity.
An RSPCA spokesperson has said: "As an animal welfare organisation our primary focus is on improving the lives of millions of animals who are currently being farmed. The RSPCA Assured scheme, therefore, helps protect the well-being of millions of farm animals, including laying hens, by setting strict welfare standards to ensure the animals have better lives.
"RSPCA Assured labelled eggs come from farms inspected to almost four hundred mandatory RSPCA welfare standards. These standards do not allow caged hens and insist on a minimum amount of environmental enrichment - such as perches, pecking objects and destructible items like straw bales - to give hens plenty of opportunities to express their natural behaviours such as foraging.
"This is especially important during periods of confinement, such as the current housing restrictions, to help stop the spread of bird flu. The RSPCA Assured logo means that whether barn or free-range, the hens have been cared for to higher welfare standards." Earlier this month Animal Rebellion supporters had also put up posters around Nottingham asking people to put their love for animals into action on Valentine's Day by choosing a plant-based future.
Animal Rebellion is urging wholesale governmental and societal support for farmers and fishing communities to transition to a plant-based food system and programme of rewilding that will secure a future for generations to come.
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