"HumaneSociety" news and stories

Egg producers are having a tough month. Not only has the latest salmonella outbreak led to bad press and recalls for dozens of different egg brands, but there's also been increasingly strong opposition to battery cages, which are the standard across the industry. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) decries them; California has moved to ban them. Even the Dalai Lama has spoken out against the 67-square-inch cages in which many hens are destined to spend their lives.

Paul Shapiro, a senior director at HSUS's End Factory Farming campaign, told the Washington Post, "The cage-free movement is not only about providing a humane environment for animals. There is also a strong food-safety component as well." In fact, the HSUS makes the case that battery cages lead to unsanitary conditions, which in turn lead to a tainted food supply. The fact that 550 million tainted eggs involved in the last outbreak appear to have originated in battery cages adds fuel to that fire.

Egg producers are now pushing back a bit, though. United Egg Producers, the industry's top lobbying group, is speaking up about what it calls the myths and facts about battery cages, asserting that free-range hens are no healthier than caged, and that other industry practices, such as beak-trimming, are not as cruel as they sound.