Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether a consultation on ending the routine culling of male chicks through in-ovo sexing is under consideration.

As stated in the recently published Animal Welfare Strategy the Government would like to see an end to the practice of killing day-old chicks and we will be working with the UK egg industry to this end. The Government welcomes industry’s interest in the development of day zero sexing technology.