[OT] EU's workability perfectly illustrated

[Tim Watts]

Well, everyone suspected it, but this really is a shining example of why the EU as a common legislature is unworkable:

of battery farming of hens - unless you're France, Spain or Poland]

To quote the article: "Spain, France, Poland and others admit they will not be ready to drop battery cages (or just refuse to say when they will be ready) despite having had 13 years to prepare for the change in the treatment of farm animals."

13 years! I wonder how many new installations of battery farming equipment there have been in that time?

It's a sensible use of EU powers and Britain has done the right thing, only to be undermined by other member states. And I mean undermined. Given the ease of transport of eggs, and their long shelf life, this could easily place British farmers at a disadvantage as cheaper battery farmed eggs are imported from France with almost trivial ease.

Now, I wonder what would happen if Britain refused imports of eggs from non compliant countries?...

[Camdor]

If it was the other way round, we would have the froggy farmers blocking the ports.

[Bob Eager]

Reminds me of a situation many years ago now, where we sent students on a 'year abroad' to study computing in Marseilles. They did not have agood time anyway, since most of the staff seemed to be anti-English and made that very clear even in lectures, making what were essentially racist comments.

The worst bit was that our students did very badly. Apparently (it turned out) it was commonplace (and condoned) to cheat, and that's what the French students did. Ours didn't. Plus ca change...

[Corporal Jones]

I always make a point of buying free range British eggs, even get them at Aldi and yes they do taste and look better. Unfortunately the food industry imports eggs from wherever is the cheapest but then again the British insist on cheap food. Some people have no Taste.

[Howard Neil]

The only way of making sure that you are actually buying free range eggs is to buy them from the producer and see the chickens for yourself. The definition that producers are allowed to apply to "free range eggs" is not the definition that the average member of the public would use and is more akin to barn eggs.

[tim....]

Eggs don't have a long shelf life, and they are one of the few foods that can actually do you serious harm if you eat "stale" produce

tim

[Tim Watts]

Well, I was comparing them to other fresh produce such as milk or lumps of meat - there'd be no problem shipping them all over the place by truck and ferry.

[grimly4]

Moved from Greece to Ireland, that German? Anyway, they all earned the money, so the writer is talking out of his arse.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Juts had the Swedish branch of e family over.

My sister complained that the house at 19C was cold. ' in Sweden in the winter, you dont go outside and inside is 22C everywhere'

Climate change is scary in Sweden. Its just accepted as fact and everyone is like harry.

No one can afford their old electric underfloor heating any more.

All the eggs, apparently taste of fish. All the pigs taste of fish too. All the bacon is Danish and inedible. All the beef tastes of fish. The lamb tastes of plastic, as its vacuum packed before leaving New Zealand. Fortunately I fond some jars of pickled herrings she gave me two years ago and put them on the table in bowls 'how Swedish: I didn't know you could get them here' I got a phone call from the German branch of the family, over christmassing in a cottage on Bodmin moor. SHE isn't speaking to me since I pointed out why her claims that people were dying all over Europe from Chernobyl radiation were in fact groundless and totally unscientific.

So it was an especial pleasure to tell her daughter to tell her that she had chosen the single most radioactive part of Great Britain to spend Christmas, and she was in fact experiencing a higher background level this minute than existed in the town of Pryatt (evacuated post Chernobyl and never reoccupied).

Her plans to move back to Germany from Greece are frustrated by the fact that oddly, no one wants to by her house in Greece. She told me that 'property values never go down' as well.

Still her EU pensions should hold up all right..for 5 months max we estimate.

Fortunately her children have not inherited their mothers neuroses: there's are completely different..

[The Natural Philosopher]

Well no. 1000 year old eggs area chinese delicacy IIRC.

Its not old eggs you need to worry about its new eggs used as toilet paper by chickens you should be most concerned about.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They can do you serious harm too when fresh if not cooked properly. However, if kept in a cool place like a larder and cooked properly they are safe to eat long after most unprocessed foods.

[Dave Liquorice]

According to Farming Today sometime in the last week. The EU will be looking to prevent and prosecute for the cross border transport of eggs (in any form) produced by the soon to be outlawed method. The programme wasn't quite so clear what happens to such eggs within a given country.

The UK won't (knowingly) allow the import of eggs, in any form, produced by the outlawed method.

[Andy Champ]

're not really that old.

In my experience eggs are either good or bad, and it's obvious. But as I don't really like them and only use the occasional one in cooking I'm not that experienced. ISTR Sir Patrick Moore had a run in with a bad one...

Andy

[Martin]

turned into powdered egg and exported to UK. :-)

Not even as powdered egg to be used by the catering industry?