"cage free" news and stories

Some big news hit the hen house on Tuesday. California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed bill A.B. 1437 into law, which states that all whole eggs must come from birds that can "fully extend their limbs, lie down and spread their wings without touching each other or the sides of their enclosure," as the Humane Society of the United States describes it. In other words, when the law goes into full effect in 2015, the Golden State will be effectively cage free.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of HSUS, wrote in the Huffington Post that the new law will likely have an impact far beyond the California state line -- this being the eighth largest economy in the world, what happens in California rarely stays in California. "With 40 million consumers . . . it would be hard to overestimate the potential of this bill to change the way laying hens are treated throughout the United States," Pacelle pointed out.

So how much of a lifestyle change is this for hens? Let's define our terms. Cage free does not equal free range. According to the HSUS, cage-free hens are still confined by the thousands, indoors, and may still be debeaked and force-molted. Even so, life in battery cages is arguably worse, as the hens literally can not turn around or spread their wings -- ever.

Ben & Jerry's dropped an egg supplier earlier this summer when doubts were raised about their handling of chickens. To appease their critics, as well as to support their company's goals of "progressive practices", the ice cream manufacturer has said that they will now only use eggs that meet an even higher standard than the average cage-free egg.

The new plan, which will take four years to implement, will require that Ben and Jerry's suppliers provide eggs from chickens that "nests, perches and dust bathing areas" in conditions that could be considered natural for the birds. Company spokespeople say that this change will have a "massive" impact on the egg industry and they expect that more companies will change their practices to ease "the societal concern" for chickens.

There is no telling what effect, if any, this change will have on the cost of the company's products.

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You have probably seen cartons of eggs in the store from "free range" or "cage free" hens, but what about all those other eggs on the shelves? At stores like Wild Oats and Whole Foods, only cage-less eggs are sold, but by some estimates, the eggs from caged hens in an ordinary grocery store could be more than 80% of those on the shelves. Eggs from caged hens are not labeled in any particular way, leaving consumers with the impression that the eggs have a blank slate. In other words, if it doesn't clearly state the eggs' origin, consumers aren't going to spend too much time thinking about it even if they don't support caging chickens.

At least, this is the theory put forward by Washington DC council member Jim Graham, who is proposing a law that would require supermarkets to display signs stating that "Eggs may be from caged hens" on displays of eggs not labeled otherwise. He says that this would increase consumer awareness for the issue, which is receiving more and more attention from animal rights groups, as well as individuals who are "interested in protecting animals"

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When it came out that Ben & Jerry's, the socially aware ice cream company owned by Unilever, was purchasing eggs from a facility that was accused of mistreating its chickens by the Humane Society, which released a report that revealed the supplier had dead and dying chickens with living ones and that all were kept in small cages. Consumers were not pleased. They expected more from the activist ice cream producers. But Ben & Jerry listened to those concerns, as well as the concerns from the Humane Society, and has dropped the egg producer in question from its list of suppliers, though the CEO would not commit to switching to cage-free eggs for its US operation, though they use free range eggs in Europe.

Now we will just have to wait and see if this move affects either sales or production, given that Sarah noted the ice cream maker purchased over 30 million eggs each year from the egg company and that consumers might want the company to source its ingredients more responsibly in the future.

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