WHY CAGE-FREE EGGS?
Consumers are increasingly demanding higher animal welfare and food quality standards.
Consumer Demand
According to a 2017 study by market research firm Packaged Facts, the majority of US consumers indicated they were “more concerned” about the treatment of animals raised for food than they had been a few years before. Ninety-four percent of European citizens regard the protection and welfare of farmed animals (including laying hens) to be important, and the majority indicate a willingess to pay more for higher welfare products.
In response to consumer demand, thousands of food companies, as well as some countries and US states, have banned the use of cages for egg production.
Food Quality
Extreme confinement in “battery cages” results in birds that are diseased and injured, producing eggs with a significantly higher salmonella risk. The largest study ever conducted by experts shows that battery cage farms are 25 times more likely to be contaminated with salmonella, compared to cage-free egg farms.
Animal Welfare
When egg-laying hens are housed in cages, they suffer immensely. They spends their whole lives in barren cages in an area the size of an iPad, unable to extend their wings or even stand with their heads raised. Caged hens often develop osteoporosis and “cage layer fatigue”—conditions that result in painful bone fractures and paralysis. They are unable to perch, dust bathe, forage, nest, stretch, or simply walk freely, and the inability to engage in these most basic natural behaviors causes them extreme psychological distress.