An egg recall involving a whopping 228 million eggs (update: more than 500 million, 14 states) caused by a salmonella outbreak in 3 states—will we ever learn— has prompted a response from the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS). The animal protection organization specifically calls out the inhumane and unsanitary battery cage system as one of the primary catalysts that led to the recall.
“Factory farms that cram egg-laying hens into tiny cages are not only cruel, but they threaten food safety,” stated Michael Greger, MD, director of public health and animal agriculture for The Humane Society of the United States. “According to the best available science, simply by switching to cage-free housing systems, the egg industry may be able to halve the risk of Salmonella for the American public.”
The facility responsible for the outbreak, Wright County Egg in Gait, Iowa, confines more than 7.5 million egg laying hens in the tiny cages associated with battery cage operations.
According to the HSUS:
· Every scientific study published in recent years shows that confining hens in cages results in significantly increased Salmonella risk, including a 2010 study that found 7 times greater odds of Salmonella Enteriditis contamination in operations caging hens.
· About 95 percent of egg-laying hens in the United States are confined in cages so small, the animals can't even spread their wings.
· Cage-free hens generally have two to three times more space per bird than caged hens. Cage-free hens may not be able to go outside and, like caged hens, may have parts of their beaks cut off, but they can walk, spread their wings and lay their eggs in nests—all behaviors permanently denied to hens crammed into battery cages.
And for our non-vegan friends that live in California, Colorado, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska and Wisconsin; the eggs affected by the recall were distributed under the brand names Lucerne, Albertson, Mountain Dairy, Ralph's, Boomsma's, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms and Kemp.
If you purchased eggs under one of the aforementioned names, don’t eat them. Which is actually pretty sound advice for all animal products, tainted or otherwise.
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Photo Credit: cc: flickr.com/photos/zyada, Humane Society
