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.

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.
When 









