Whataburger joins battery-cage-free egg movement

Whataburger, famous, or rather infamous for it’s fat and calorie laden menu options like it’s triple meat burgers and This Dish is Veg reported fried Chocolate Brownie Pie is now making history in a different way. The San Antonio-based chain is joining the national movement away from using eggs from battery-caged hens and will begin switching some eggs in its supply chain in 2011.

There’s been a tremendous movement on this issue over the past five years, especially in the Midwest where there are many battery-cage-free egg suppliers. Virtually all supermarkets now carry battery-cage-free eggs including mega-retailers like Costco and Wal-Mart. The prestigious Sustainability Endowment Institute reports that 64% of U.S. colleges and universities are now using battery-cage-free eggs. The Baltimore-based SAGE Dining Services that supplies more than 165 private schools announced earlier this week that it has switched all of the whole eggs in its supply chain to battery-cage-free.

Over 95% of the chickens raised to lay eggs in the U.S. are forced to live crammed together inside battery cages – small, barren wire cages stacked in rows inside filthy windowless sheds. Battery cages are typically the size of a file drawer and confine five to seven hens, giving each bird only 67 square inches of floor space – an area smaller than a notebook-sized piece of paper. Disease often runs rampant in squalid factory farming conditions.

Although battery-cage-free doesn’t mean cruelty-free, Whataburger’s announced switch is a step in the right direction. The single most important action consumers can take to prevent needless cruelty to animals is adopting a diet free of meat, dairy, and eggs.

Corey Roscoe | Facebook
Corey serves as Mercy For Animals' Ohio Campaign Coordinator, organizing events and campaigns, and coordinating volunteers throughout Ohio. Adopting a plant-based diet 20 years ago, Corey's goal is to work within her community to promote awareness of vegan diets to help widen people's circles of compassion.

Photo credit:cc:flickr.com/photos/icanchangethisright and Mercy For Animals stock