In a concerted and multi-faceted 7-month campaign, East Bay Animal Advocates (EBAA) and other activist groups successfully convinced Andronico's Markets to forgo the use of any and all egg suppliers that rely on intensive battery cages. While Andronico's previously had claimed it was "committed to the highest standards of animal husbandry," an EBAA undercover investigation found that Andronico's primary egg supplier, NuCal Foods, kept egg-laying hens in squalid and cramped conditions. Just this past February, EBAA began the campaign to encourage Andronico's to stop selling eggs produced in battery cages. The campaign included creating an informative website (AndronicosAbuse.com, now defunct, was the web address); call-in, fax-in, and email campaigns to company officials; consumer awareness demonstrations outside of various Andronico's locations in the Bay Area; and even a billboard sponsored by the Humane Society of the US (HSUS) boldly-placed just one block from Andronico's headquarters in the East Bay city of Albany.

Andronico's Market, a 10-store grocery chain based in the San Francisco Bay Area, will no longer sell any eggs from chickens confined to battery cages. Bill Andronico, president of the company, told East Bay Animal Advocates: "We have plans to be 100 percent cage-free on October 1, 2006. We take all issues around this matter very seriously, from the welfare of our employees to the welfare of the hens." Andronico's Market joins Whole Foods Markets, Wild Oats Natural Marketplace and other retailers around the country that now refuse to carry eggs from caged hens. Christine Morrissey, of East Bay Animal Advocates, stated, "Andronico's Market is taking a positive step by refusing to carry eggs from battery caged hens, and other grocers across the Bay Area should follow its lead."

Read More on the Andronico's Campaign: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Recent Indybay Feature on EBAA's Week of Action Targeting Andronico's
Related Story on Activism Against East Coast Battery Cages

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