Hello FAST members

I hope these lines find you very well.. We wanted to tell you about the progress of the egg labeling bill in Peru. It's a very important moment, with daily updates from the Congress of the Republic.

In November 2023, with the support of Fundación Veg (Chile), we succeeded in getting Congresswoman Sigrid Bazán to submit Bill No. 6448/2023-CR (hereinafter PL) to the Congress of the Republic of Peru. This Bill is titled "Law that Promotes Consumer Rights in Egg Labeling." This PL is based on three pillars:
i) Transparency for consumers to know the origin of their food.
ii) Animal welfare in laying hen farming systems.
iii) Public health in the face of the risk of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) given the antibiotics that caged hens receive as a preventive measure, which leave traces in their eggs.

This PL is the first of its kind in Peru and is assigned to both the Agrarian Commission and the Consumer Defense Commission (CoDeCo), allowing us to work on its impact in two instances in parallel. It is undoubtedly in CoDeCo where the PL has made the most positive progress and where a substitute text was presented to reflect an observation from the National Institute for the Defense of Competition and the Protection of Intellectual Property (INDECOPI), which welcomed the transparency proposed by the PL, which aims to distinguish on egg labeling between "cage" farming, "shed" farming (or corrals), and "pasture" farming (or free-range farming), so that each consumer can choose between these three systems and make an informed decision. The PL has also received 12 favorable technical opinions, including those from the main consumer associations (ASPEC and APU), animal welfare certifiers (Certified Humane), cage-free chicken producers (Murlota), animal protection associations (Sinergia Animal, Fórum Animal, TerraAnimal, ARBA), the Center for Welfare Metrics, among others.

On April 15, the CoDeCo presidency issued a favorable opinion on the PL (the first favorable opinion in Peruvian history for farm animals), but the vote was suspended due to a prior request requiring a roundtable discussion with the Ministry of Agriculture. This roundtable discussion took place in record time on April 22, and as a result, the requirement for producer training records will be eliminated from the PL as a concession to the industry, but without undermining the essence of the PL for transparent labeling based on the type of farming. We must mention that this roundtable discussion lasted more than three times and was very tough.

The favorable opinion is expected to be submitted again to the vote of the congressmen who make up the CoDeCo in May, and hopefully a majority will win. After that, the PL should be voted on in the full Congress for final approval. Meanwhile, the PL has already surpassed 10,000 signatures on change.org, received more than twenty mentions in the media (including print, radio, and TV), and we already have a second press campaign planned!

Have a great week!

warmly,

Iselda Livoni