First no-kill eggs nowavailable in Germany

BERLIN, GERMANY— Scientists and researchers in Berlin have developed breakthrough technology that helps determine the gender of a chick before it hatches.

The new technology has been developed by a German research group called 'Seleggt. It is the result of a cooperation between German grocery retail group REWE and the University of Leipzig.

The main goal of the group is to put an end to chick culling. Chick culling is the act of killing male chicks within the poultry industry due to their poor meat quality and growth.

According to a report by the group, the new technique, dubbed 'The Seleggt Process', uses a non-invasive procedure to extract allantois fluid from fertilized eggs.

The fluid is then collected into a container that changes color depending on whether the embryo is male or female.

Male eggs are then separated from female eggs and turned into feed and female eggs go on to hatch and grow into laying hens.

Jan Kunath, the Deputy Chief Executive Officer of REWE Group explained the no-kill eggs would help put an end to male chick culling. In a statement he said he "strongly believes that the extra price of a few cents per egg carton is well invested."

According to Agriculture website WATTAgNet, about four to six billion male chicks are culled immediately after hatching in the U.S.

According to data from Seleggt, 45 million male day-old chicks of the egg-laying breeds are killed each year in Germany.