Male chicks killed at birth: guidelines ready for stop in 2027

Long called for by animal rights activists, the guidelines on so-called 'in ovo sexing' are ready, which will make it possible - as of 1 January 2027 - to abolish the hateful practice of culling male chicks (about 30 million a year) at birth, intercepting their sex in embryo beforehand. As they cannot even be used for their meat, these specimens are in fact considered a production waste of the egg industry and are killed by maceration, or suffocation.

The announcement came from Undersecretary at Masaf, Patrizio La Pietra, in front of the audience at Fieravicola, the international trade fair for the poultry industry, a sector with an industrial turnover of 8 billion, which has been grappling for years with the ambitious challenge of finding the balance between consumer health, animal welfare and economic sustainability.

The inter-ministerial decree (Health, Masaf and Mimit) - currently under the first signature of the Minister of Health, Orazio Schillaci - provides for four guidelines, which we were able to view.

The first promotes the use of machinery capable of determining the sex of the embryo, according to the most advanced technology; the second supports in ovo sexing through the promotion of technological improvement and the monitoring of results, with particular regard to the time taken to determine the sex of the embryo and sexing error rates; the third promotes the structural adjustment of incubators. The fourth handles the 'communication of information campaigns'.

The implementing decree represents an important milestone forthe egg industry - EUR 2.2 billion in turnover - and for animal welfare associations (from Lav to Animal Equality), which over the years have done their utmost to bring the dossier to the table of the institutions, collecting thousands of signatures.