The vegan organisation Viva! has released footage of a UK duck egg supplier showing the birds kept in dirty conditions tantamount to animal abuse. The farm investigated is Field Farm, a duck egg supplier in Lincolnshire, England, which produces eggs for Lincolnshire Co-Ops, Noble Foods, and Stonegate, which in turn supply them to major stores such as Tesco, Morrisons, Waitrose and M&S.
Following a tip-off from an ex-worker of the farm, Viva! Campaigns took immediate action and launched an investigation of Field Farm. Undercover footage, collected between March and May 2022, reveals shocking scenes from inside the farm. According to Viva!, ducks were found sitting on “decaying” straw, faeces, and urine, and did not have access to water baths. In an Instagram post, the organisation posted “Thousands of sick, lame and dying birds suffer together in barren sheds that create an ideal breeding ground for disease. They are denied access to enough water to dabble or even dip their heads, which is absolute torture for a semi-aquatic animal and exposed to shocking cruelty from workers. This farm must be stopped. It’s time to GO VEGAN and END factory farming before it ends us.”
Lex Rigby, Viva!’s head of investigations, said, “Duck eggs are marketed as a luxury food but the way that these intelligent animals are treated is repulsive – British consumers are being sold a lie.” It seems that the UK duck farms are not that different from those exposed in Indonesia and Taiwan a few months ago, which is not surprising because animal abuse is endemic in animal agriculture anywhere in the world.
Watch our interview with Lex Rigby:
