Consumer interest in cage-free eggs

The Sunday, June 11, Chicago Tribune (Pg 3) and Baltimore Sun (pg 12a) both carried a story on consumer interest in cage free eggs. The Tribune headed the story, "Cage-free eggs take flight; Some shoppers like that birds can roam."

It opens with a quote from a shopper who seeks out cage-free eggs and says, "There's been more publicity about how stock animals are handled. It hasn't made me a vegetarian yet, but it might."

We read:

"The concerns of shoppers like Taylor are part of a growing public interest in where food comes from--whether beef cows were fed on grass, whether asparagus came from local farmers, how much geese suffer in the production of foie gras.

"When it comes to eggs, animal-welfare activists are pressuring grocery chains to stop selling ones from caged hens. In the confining rows of cages that house most poultry, they say, the birds cannot engage in such natural behaviors as nesting, perching, dust bathing or even spreading their wings.

It tells us that HSUS is having some success with its campaign to encourage cage-free policies, and details some of those successes.

We hear from those in the industry who argue that "caged and cage-free hens are fed the same, given the same vaccinations and tested for the same diseases" and that "there is no nutritional difference between the two types of eggs." And of course there is, "one obvious benefit to caged production: cost."

You can read the whole article on line at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-0606110286jun11,1,1457846.story or on the Baltimore Sun website at: http://tinyurl.com/k9guj

And you can learn more about the issue at http://www.hsus.org/farm/camp/nbe/

The articles offer great opportunities for letters to the editor about the way human society treats other animals, and/or singing the joys of plant-based diets. The Chicago Tribune takes letters at http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/letters/chi-lettertotheeditor.customform

The Baltimore Sun takes letters at http://www.baltimoresun.com/about/bal-feedback,0,6119824.htmlstory or letters [at] baltsun.com The paper advises, "Be sure to include contact information, including your full name and both day and evening phone numbers."


(DawnWatch is an animal advocacy media watch that looks at animal issues in the media and facilitates one-click responses to the relevant media outlets. You can learn more about it, and sign up for alerts at http://www.DawnWatch.com. If you forward or reprint DawnWatch alerts, please do so unedited -- leave DawnWatch in the title and include this tag line.)