Eggs, hens, and animal welfare

If you read that title and started to back away, don’t fret: animal welfare isn’t synonymous with PETA or extremism. It’s about the ethical treatment of animals — raising, feeding, caring and, in certain cases, killing them in ways that prevent (or minimize, if unavoidable) their suffering and maintain their natural needs and environment. That’s my extended definition/interpretation, anyway, via my readings and class discussions in my Environmental Ethics course.

Through this Plenty Magazine article about hens, eggs, nutrition and welfare, I got to this (A) Brief Guide to Egg Carton Labels and Their Relevance to Animal Welfare. The facts are striking. Mind that this is an American site so some labels we see in Canada aren’t listed, and others listed aren’t seen in Canada. I guess. I’ve seen “free run” and thought it to be different from “free range,” and perhaps it isn’t, but no answers are provided on that page.

I found a rather disturbing thing in reading about the different types of labels and procedures that go with them. Certified Organic: “…Debeaking and forced molting through starvation are permitted.” United Egg Producers Certified: “The overwhelming majority of the U.S. egg industry complies with this voluntary program, which permits routine cruel and inhumane factory farm practices. … Forced molting through starvation is prohibited, but debeaking is allowed.” Can someone explain to me why certified organic and free-range producers would be allowed to perform forced molting through starvation, when the majority of producers are not? I have a cold so I’m too tired to look up the purpose of this right now.

Another thing is this: “[Cage-Free:] They have the ability to engage in many of their natural behaviors such as walking, nesting, and spreading their wings.” Yes, I would expect a hen to be allowed to do this. It’s like letting a child walk, play and laugh. Then United Egg Producers Certified is as follows: “By 2008, hens laying these eggs will be afforded 67 square inches of cage space per bird, less area than a sheet of paper. The hens are confined in restrictive, barren cages and cannot perform many of their natural behaviors, including perching, nesting, foraging or even spreading their wings. Compliance is verified through third-party auditing.” Compliance to what, exactly? Compliance to NOT allowing the hens to do this?

There is plenty more the site doesn’t mention about how hens are housed and treated. You probably don’t want to know, but I think you should.

Meanwhile, I’m thinking I should phone up the producers in Abbotsford whose eggs I buy, and find out what their procedures are, if they’ll tell me.