Attention

The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not represent our advertisers

Thursday, December 31, 2015

The Year In Eggs: Everyone's Going Cage-Free, Except Supermarkets

Animal welfare advocates got major traction this year pushing for cage-free eggs.

In September, McDonald's pledged it would move to 100-percent cage-free eggs in its supply chain. And while the movement was already underway, this announcement seemed to really set off a domino effect.

Some of the biggest egg producers in the U.S., including Rembrandt Foods, pledged allegiance to cage-free. Packaged good behemoths like Nestle and fast food chains like Subway did as well. (See the list of companies below.)

"I can't think of a social issue that food companies rallied around more in 2015 than chicken confinement," says Matthew Prescott, food policy director for the Humane Society of the United States, which has long been egging on producers and buyers to go cage-free.

More

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

We're still waiting for the "hundreds" of backyard chickens in Salisbury. And Shanie Shields hasn't been attacked by hordes of bees yet, either.

Anonymous said...

Not sure what your point is?

bob pinto said...

The picture in the article shows the cleanest chicken-house I've ever see. And these NPR want chickens to go outside where foxes, dogs, and feral cats would rip them to pieces?

The egg farms I've been in have metal boxes with no front or back where the hens lay and exit. The egg rolls down to a conveyor.

ON breeder farms there is a cage door that falls like a trap until the worker can label the egg. They are not caged.

Those want cage free eggs don't have the slightest idea of what they're talking about.

Anonymous said...

Dear Bob Pinto -

Sorry but yes, we who want cage free do know what we are taking about, but it is obvious you don't.

Signed - Been buying cage free before it became a fad.

bob pinto said...

Signed but anonymous:
I only worked for Perdue Breeder Farms (Heritage Farms) for 3 years and been inside a parent breeder farm.

You're right, I don't know anything.