Pancake Day: Survey reveals shocking facts about Shrove Tuesday

The survey by RSPCA Assured has revealed the unbelievable disconnect between people and their food. Almost half (49 per cent) of Scots admitted they did not know how to make a pancake from scratch.

The survey, carried out by YouGov for RSPCA Assured - the only farm assurance scheme in the UK solely dedicated to farmed animal welfare – revealed that despite the majority of the pancake-making public wanting to make better choices for hen welfare, they are clueless about egg production and what could be lurking in their food.

This Pancake Day, RSPCA Assured is encouraging everyone who chooses to eat eggs to look for cage free and preferably those with the RSPCA Assured label.

Ernie Lee, RSPCA Assured regional farm assessment manager for Scotland, said: “Something as simple as not knowing what ingredients are in a pancake might seem innocuous and funny, but it exposes an important truth - we just don’t know enough about what we are eating and where our food comes from.

“People want to make ethical food choices. For example, 59 per cent of Scottish people who make pancakes said it is important to them that the ingredients come from higher-welfare farms. But many don’t realise that everyday foods, like pancakes, depend on egg production and nearly 20 per cent of UK egg production comes from caged hens.

“This lack of knowledge could mean people are inadvertently supporting lower welfare farming and funding cruel practices such as hens being kept in cages. If everyone knew more about what’s in their food, they might think twice before they buy and make higher welfare choices."

In the UK, around eight million hens (20 per cent) spend most of their lives cramped in cages, unable to move around, stay active and perform natural behaviours, like dustbathing. This leaves them stressed and frustrated, which means they can resort to distressing behaviours like birds pulling out each other's feathers or being left with bald patches from where their heads and necks have rubbed on the bars when they poke their limbs out to feed.

“Lots of people think cages are a thing of the past, but they couldn’t be more wrong.” Mr Lee said. “The old battery cage was banned in Europe in 2012, but many were just replaced by a new type of cage called a ‘colony’ or ‘enriched cage’. In reality, these are not much better and only give each hen about as much space as the size of a large pancake, which is totally unacceptable.

“Whilst the majority of eggs sold in UK supermarkets are now cage free, not all of them are, so it’s still really important that shoppers read the label.”

Supermarkets, including Aldi, Co-op, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose, have already met their commitment to only supply cage-free eggs. A number of other retailers have also pledged to be cage free in 2025, but the clock is ticking for them to achieve this.

The RSPCA Assured label means hens are not kept in cramped cages. Instead they live cage-free lives on free-range or organic farms or inside cage-free barns with plenty of space to move around.