Landmark EU consultation response shows overwhelming demand to end cages and apply welfare standards to imports

More than 230,000 people responded to the European Commission's public consultation on farmed animal welfare - the largest response in the consultation's history. The results confirm overwhelming demand for cage-free farming and for the EU to apply its welfare standards to imports.

In February, the European Commission published the factual summary of its public consultation on modernising on-farm animal welfare legislation. The consultation ran from 19 September to 17 December 2025 and gathered more than 200,000 contributions from farmers, citizens, businesses, national and regional authorities, NGOs and other interested parties. That is roughly triple the 59,000 responses to the previous 2021–2022 consultation on the same topic, making it the largest public engagement exercise on farmed animal welfare in EU history.

The results leave little room for ambiguity about what people across Europe want: an end to cages and consistent welfare standards on all products sold in the EU, whether produced domestically or imported.

Cages in EU farming: the scale of the problem

The scale of the welfare problem behind these numbers is enormous. Every year, nearly 300 million animals are confined in cages on farms across the EU, unable to express basic natural behaviours, deprived of environmental enrichment and social contact, with detrimental effects to their physical and physiological health. These include laying hens in enriched cages with less usable space than an A4 sheet of paper, mother pigs confined in farrowing crates so narrow they cannot turn around, and calves kept in individual pens that prevent normal social development.

The consultation asked respondents directly whether phasing out these systems matters:

• 99% of respondents, including 54% of businesses, think phasing out cages for laying hens is important or very important. 

• 99% of respondents, including 46% of businesses, think phasing out cages for pigs is important or very important. 

• 98–99% of respondents think phasing out cages for calves, rabbits, ducks and other animals is important or very important.

Support for cage-free farming extends across the business community as well. More than 30 European food companies, including Lidl, Sodexo, and Ferrero, submitted statements to the European Commission calling for an EU-wide ban on farming cages for laying hens, pigs, and rabbits. Several have already begun removing cages from their own supply chains. 

98% of respondents found the systematic killing of day-old male chicks ethically problematic, and 89% agreed that current EU legislation does not adequately protect farmed animals or allow them to express natural behaviours.

Imports: the overlooked gap in EU animal welfare law

The consultation's findings on imports are unambiguous:

• 96% of all respondents,  citizens, businesses, and NGOs alike, fully agreed that imported food of animal origin should meet the same animal welfare standards as products produced within the EU. A further 3% partly agreed. 

• Among companies, businesses and associations specifically, 94% fully agreed, with 88–92% saying all EU welfare requirements should apply to imported poultry, eggs, pork, veal, beef and rabbit products.

A cage ban would be a major win for the hundreds of millions of animals confined in EU farming systems. Equivalent requirements on imports are also necessary, otherwise it risks being undermined by products from countries that still use the very systems being phased out.

If the EU bans enriched cages for laying hens but continues to allow imports of battery or enriched cage eggs from countries like Ukraine, where 95.5% of eggs are still produced in cages, or from Argentina, where barren battery cages and unrestricted beak trimming remain standard practice, some of the suffering shifts overseas rather than ending. European farmers who are banned from using these systems face unfair competition from products made under conditions that would be illegal on their own farms. And consumers are left believing these practices are no longer part of their food system, when they are.

Closing this gap between domestic rules and import rules is what 96% of respondents were calling for.

Why EU import standards matter for animals globally

The EU is the world's largest single market for food products. When it requires imports to meet its welfare standards, exporters change their practices to keep market access. This is already happening across the globe.

Thailand's CP Foods, one of the world's largest poultry producers, has committed to supplying cage-free eggs in response to anticipated EU requirements. Ukraine's MHP, a major poultry exporter, is shifting its production toward EU-aligned welfare standards, with the country targeting full compliance by 2028. Brazil's pork industry has shown it can meet EU welfare standards when market access depends on it.

EU legislation on import standards would extend this further. Producers across the world who want to sell to 450 million European consumers would need to move away from enriched cages, sow stalls, and other confinement systems. That means material improvements in the lives of farmed animals well beyond Europe's borders.

Legislation is overdue and may face further delays

The European Commission promised to deliver legislative proposals for an EU cage ban by the end of 2023, but did not keep its promise. The legislation is now more than 800 days overdue. Despite the Vision for Agriculture and Food, adopted in February 2025, the Commission plans to propose further revision to existing EU animal welfare legislation, including the phasing out of cages, and has stated it will pursue stronger alignment of welfare standards applied to imported products. But the 2026 Work Programme did not include the animal welfare proposal, raising serious questions about whether the Commission intends to deliver this year.

On 5 March 2026, civil society had the opportunity to present the case for phasing out cages at the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) in Luxembourg, arguing that the European Commission has failed to uphold citizens' expectations on the End the Cage Age (ECI). It is the first time a court has been asked to hold the Commission accountable for failing to deliver on a European Citizens' Initiative.

The consultation results strengthen the case further. Over 230,000 people and organisations responded, with near-unanimous support for ending cages and applying welfare standards to imports. Combined with the backing of 30+ food companies and an active court case over the Commission's failure to act, the political cost of continued inaction is growing.

Why the EU needs to act on both cages and imports

Animal Policy International welcomes the publication of these consultation results. They confirm what we and our partners across the animal welfare movement have long argued: the EU must apply its welfare standards to all products sold on its market, regardless of where they are produced.

Phasing out cages is essential for the hundreds of millions of animals suffering in confinement across Europe. Banning cages domestically while continuing to import cage-produced eggs and pork means the EU is outsourcing the very cruelty it has legislated against - undermining the expectations of its citizens.

The European Commission has the scientific evidence, the public mandate, and the legal tools. What it needs now is the political will to act.

Animal Policy International submitted evidence to the European Commission's call for evidence on this legislation in July 2025, setting out five reasons why the EU needs to act on import standards. Read our full submission here.