KUALA LUMPUR, Feb. 22 -- A report that assesses the progress of governments across the region in supporting the industry shift towards cage-free farming has found that Malaysia scored the lowest when evaluated on three key pillars - ending cages, policy framework and welfare standards.

Malaysia ranked equal lowest alongside Bangladesh and Vietnam at four out of 140 points, trailing Singapore with six points, Nepal with 6.5 points and Japan with eight points.

The report, Asia Cage-Free Benchmark (Benchmark), conducted by Open Wing Alliance (OWA) - a global coalition of 100 organisations spanning across 72 countries - is responding to rising consumer concern for animal welfare and increasing commitments from companies to source cage-free ...