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Updated: 01/06/2016
Copyright - 2005-2016
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HOW YOU CAN HELP FIGHT ABUSES...
Simple, effective ways you can help bring change & awareness to animal
issues...
Campaign Victory: Trader Joe's Goes Cage-Free with Its Brand Eggs
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) November 8,
2005
After more than four months of debate over battery cages and corporate
policies, The HSUS and Trader Joe's reached an agreement on Monday in which
the grocery chain consented to purchase only cage-free eggs for the
company's own brand of eggs. The decision is expected to greatly improve the
lives of the approximately 380,000 laying hens who provide the more than 100
million Trader Joe's brand eggs sold each year.
Trader Joe's action is the latest victory for The HSUS's No Battery Eggs
campaign, which, in its short existence, has already convinced a number of
universities, supermarkets, and food service providers to eliminate or
dramatically reduce their support for the abusive battery cage system.
"Trader Joe's has taken a positive step that will have a meaningful effect
on animal welfare," said HSUS President & CEO Wayne Pacelle. "By converting
its brand of eggs to cage-free, Trader Joe's will help to reduce the number
of birds confined in cruel battery cages."
The majority of eggs currently sold at Trader Joe's are the company's own
brand eggs, laid by hundreds of thousands of hens confined in battery
cages—wire enclosures so small the birds cannot even spread their wings.
These cages are typically stacked on top of each other on hen factory farms,
where some 200,000 birds can be crammed into a single, football-field length
barn.
Trader Joe's decision will end this kind of suffering for hundreds of
thousands of laying hens. Trader Joe's has agreed that within three months:
- All Trader Joe's brand eggs will be converted to cage-free eggs.
- Any egg promotions by Trader Joe's will be devoted solely to cage-free
egg
sales.
"While Trader Joe's did stop short of adopting a total cage-free egg policy,
the company proved to us that it is serious about improving the lives of
laying hens," said The HSUS's Pacelle. "We understand that sometimes change
happens a step at a time, and we applaud Trader Joe's for making this strong
move."
Added Trader Joe's Chairman and CEO Dan Bane: "Customers looking for
cage-free eggs will need to look no further than the Trader Joe's label. We
expect this change will help further boost the proportion of sales of
cage-free eggs at Trader Joe's."
The Road to Victory
Trader Joe's policy change is the latest advancement for laying hens in the
United States. Earlier this year, Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural
Marketplace implemented exclusively cage-free egg policies, and several
regional grocery chains and college cafeterias have pledged the same.
Food-service provider Bon Appétit—which purchases 8 million shell eggs for
the more than 55 million meals it sells annually in nearly 200 dining
facilities in 26 states—has begun a one-year phase-out of all shell battery
eggs.
The agreement between The HSUS and Trader Joe's came only after tens of
thousands of animal advocates mobilized across the country to emphasize the
horrible conditions that battery-caged hens endure daily. Our campaign began
with an email alert in late June, asking HSUS readers and online members to
encourage Trader Joe's to adopt a cage-free egg policy. The campaign later
launched a grassroots movement in which advocates distributed tens of
thousands of HSUS leaflets to Trader Joe's customers—each leaflet roughly
equivalent in size to the amount of space provided to each bird in a battery
cage. In October, the campaign ran a full-page ad in the Los Angeles Times
encouraging residents in Trader Joe's own backyard—its corporate
headquarters are near LA—to give an inch when it comes to laying hen
welfare.
"The fact is, we couldn't have achieved this tremendous victory for laying
hens without the activity and participation from animal advocates in
communities across the country," said Pacelle. "We cannot thank those people
enough. This campaign is yet more proof that the people have a voice in how
animals are treated in this country."
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C
OMPASSIONATE
C
ARNIVORES
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