McDonalds refuses to use humane cage-free eggs - Humane Society

[Annces]

May 21, 2009


In the United States, McDonald's only uses eggs from hens confined in battery cages—barren enclosures so tiny, the birds can barely move their entire lives. McDonald's closest competitor, Burger King, started using cage-free eggs two years ago. Other fast-food chains, including Quiznos, Denny's, Hardee's and Carl's Jr., also use cage-free eggs in their U.S. operations.

Says Paul Shapiro, senior director of The Humane Society of the United States' factory farming campaign, "There is already an abundance of science demonstrating that battery cage confinement of laying hens is detrimental to animal welfare, and McDonald's shouldn't use another long-term study as an excuse to delay implementing the same modest reforms so many of its competitors have already adopted."

The HSUS encourages McDonald's shareholders to vote in favor of the organization's resolution asking the company to transition toward cage-free egg usage in the United States.

In contrast to its U.S. policy, McDonald's only uses cage-free eggs in the United Kingdom and will only use cage-free whole eggs in the European Union by 2010—a fact that the company has publicly touted.

The most exhaustive analysis of laying hen welfare ever conducted, the LayWel study, concluded that conventional cages—where all McDonald's eggs in the United States come from—cannot provide satisfactory welfare for the birds. As well, a 2.5 year prestigious commission on the topic funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts and Johns Hopkins School of Public Health unanimously concluded that battery cages should be phased out in favor of cage-free systems. A comprehensive review of the literature on the topic also concluded that the retail industry should move away from battery cage confinement.

In a landslide November vote, Californians approved the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act—a new law making it a criminal offense (with a phase-out period) to confine hens in battery cages, pigs in gestation crates and calves in veal crates. California is the top agricultural state, McDonald's birthplace and home to hundreds of McDonald's locations.

McDonald's should stop lagging behind its domestic competitors and its own policies in Europe and start using cage-free eggs in the United States.

http://www.hsus.org/press_and_publications/press_releases/mcdonalds_study_05212009.html


Battery Cage Chickens




Free Range Chickens

[spanone]

1. another reason to drive past mickey d's

[efhmc]

4. Will not go there.

[Arugula Latte]

9. I haven't been there in years and years.

My kids only have one memory of going to McDonalds. We were out and about on Thanksgiving day, and it was the only thing open. We didn't order food -- just drinks. My son had orange soda and it made him nauseous.

I hate, hate, hate that chain.

We go to Burgerville here in the NW. They use fresh, local, and seasonal foods. I get the veggie burger. :9

[jkshaw]

23. Arugula, the entire empire of McDonald's is nauseous

which means to "make nauseated" or sick to the stomach. The orange soda made your son nauseated.

I don't think I've ever eaten at a MaDonald's, mainly because of their use of caged chickens and slave-labor wages.

[tomm2thumbs]

2. no more McD's for Me, especial if others can do cage free with no problem

thanks for posting

[Mrs. Overall]

3. McD's uses eggs? That white rubber stuff with some light yellow streaks is an egg?

I seriously thought they used a reconstituted powder.

[msongs]

5. mcdonald's "food" is designed for and marketed to children - just say no to your kids nt

[Tim01]

6. Write them a letter.

Boycotting them is not good enough. They care about their bottom line and they have to know WHY their bottom line is being affected.

They will change when it is more profitable to change. And having a bad reputation is not profitable.

[Karenina]

7. If people had the sense give a billy-goat

They would take a sniff and walk right on by! We've got a big one down the block. The stench and the paper trail... :puke:

[Kaleva]

8. Did the house slave have it better then the field slave?

The free range hen suffers the exact same fate as the caged hens when they can no longer produce enough to put off execution day.

[superduperfarleft]

10. +1.

Just more cuddlytarian BS from the so-called "radical" HSUS.

And the picture shown above of free-range chickens is pretty far from the reality.

[Kaleva]

11. Some info on the downside of free range chickens

"Free-Range Chicken More Disease-Prone?

Swedish researchers have discovered that, if farmers aren't extremely careful, bacterial infections like E. coli can run rampant through free-range chicken flocks. The finding raises questions about what's best for both animals and people....

Compared to caged birds, free-ranging hens had more bacterial infections (the most common cause of death), more parasites, and more viruses. They were also more likely to become victims of violent pecking and cannibalistic attacks, the scientists reported this month in BioMed Central's open access journal Acta Veterinaria Scandinavica."

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/01/23/free-range-chickens.html

[superduperfarleft]

14. The problem with that is oftentimes, the animal industries will use this information

to defend battery cages. My point was more that free-range chickens are usually not anything like what most people think of when they hear the term. Free-range just states that the animals have to have exposure to the outside at some point, not on a consistent basis. You can house thousands upon thousands of chickens in a cramped, dirty warehouse, and you'll pretty much meet the definition of "free-range."

This whole "free-range" and "compassionate care" crap is just a way for HSUS, PETA, etc. to garner donations and make rich liberals feel better about eating animals, which as far as I'm concerned is the exact opposite of what an "animal rights" group should be doing. But I guess if we all bought our cheap sweatshop crap and dead animals from Whole Foods and Costco instead of Safeway and Wal-Mart, all the problems in the world will be solved! /sarcasm

[Kaleva]

16. Article with pics of real "free range" chickens

“Free-range chickens conjure up in some consumers’ minds pictures of contented fowl strolling around the barnyard, but the truth is, all a chicken grower needs to do is give the birds some access to the outdoors whether the chickens decide to take a gambol or stay inside with hundreds or thousands of other birds, under government rules growers are free to label them free-range.

“As all free-range animals are still viewed as objects to be killed for food, they are subject to abusive handling, transport, and slaughter. Free-range animals, like all animals used for their milk and eggs, are still slaughtered at a fraction of their normal life expectancy.”

Associated Press, 3/11/98

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=&imgrefurl=http://www.veganoutreach.org/freerange/&usg=__5czpIOjrrOipi-AhVZfwLeIk7O0=&h=1036&w=1491&sz=76&hl=en&start=2&um=1&tbnid=BkkGc1DVTcUcKM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dfree%2Brange%2Bchickens%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox%26rls%3Dcom.yahoo:en-US:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1

[bvar22]

28. You can keep eating the pale, anemic, supermarket eggs.

I will NEVER go back to tasteless, imitation almost eggs.
You, of course, are free to keep eating them.

Our birds are intelligent and social with individual personalities.
I don't support the factory farm caging of these animals.

[nichomachus]

18. Yeah -- it's a lot like "Choice" in the corporatist health-care plans

They keep the chickens in the usual cramped, crappy warehouses. Every so often, they open a door and give chicken the "choice" to go out. The chickens, predictably, stay where they are. But they can now stamp the chickens "Free Range," since they had the choice and turned it down.

Oh -- and they get to charge you an extra buck or two for falling for the hoax.

[MercutioATC]

17. Mmmm! Chicken tenders!

[JVS]

19. "Did the house slave have it better then the field slave?"

YES! Did you even listen to what Malcolm X was saying?

[anigbrowl]

29. Somehow, I don't see this as an enormous shadow haning over the chicken's lives

Sure, dying sucks a bit, but that was the way of the world long before humanity took up farming. On the other hand, keeping animals in tiny cages pretty much ensures their whole existence is miserable. I don't think free range chickens have so much of an inner life that they're stressing every day over their eventual fate, do you?

[paulsby]

30. more PETA-esque ridiculousness

"house slave?"

please lets not do the chickens compared to humans thang... again.

what next? an auschwitz reference?

[Matariki]

12. Thanks for the info. n/t

[flvegan]

13. ...and off to the Greatest with you!

[slackmaster]

15. As if I needed another reason not to eat their horrid "food"

But thanks for the information.

[TankLV]

20. Then only ONE restaurant in a THOUSAND would have eggs at all...

and ONE or TWO persons in those stores would be able to ORDER eggs at all...

It's not practical...

[Kaleva]

22. And if all cows were happy California cows

like they show in the ads, only the rich and connected would be able to have milk on a regular basis.

[mwooldri]

25. It *IS* practical...

It's called putting them in a barn... with no cages. Just a barn jam packed with chickens. Well, they got RID of the cages!!!

I think the biggest impact is the supermarkets... Harris Teeter down here stated that about 3% of their egg sales were of the free range variety and their goal is to get it to 7%. All them white eggs you see in the supermarket? Battery chickens. They're also the cheapest. I have vowed never to knowingly buy eggs from battery hens, so I pay nearly double for my eggs but I feel better about it.

Mark.

[nichomachus]

21. Turtle Wax UK now uses only free-range turtles

The turtle shell extract is the unique ingredient that makes Turtle Wax products last longer and provide improved shine and protection. Increased exposure to the outside elements is proven to enhance the rigidity of the carapace (upper shell) and ultimately, the hardening of the shell improves the overall performance of the wax.

For that reason (and obviously to ensure our turtles enjoy their lives more) we've gone free range and moved all of our turtles from battery farms into outdoor pens. We've filmed the entire creative process behind the initiative, from the boardroom to the final release of the turtles – and you can watch the video here!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=16t8rH3QZCc


Paul Sullivan, managing director of Turtle Wax UK, explained: “In the past year, chefs such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have really highlighted the benefits of breeding free-range animals. As a responsible and caring manufacturer, we decided to adopt this approach for our turtles and are looking forward to improving their quality of life while at the same time producing superior products for our consumers. In business terms, it’s a real Win Win!"

[LeftyMom]

24. Free range is bullshit and that's not how it looks on commercial farms.

Free range generally just means packing a jesusload of hens into a shed rather than into cages. The males are still killed immediately after hatching, the females are still debeaked painfully, usually fed the cheapest crap that keeps them alive (often including their ground up dead brothers and their own shit) and then killed as soon as their egg production falls slightly at a year or so.

[jberryhill]

26. They do not serve humane food

Their market share of people who care where their food comes from is nil.

[Kaleva]

27. An article about labeling from Mother Earth News

"The FDA really needs to crack down on unclear egg labeling. But until then (and the cows don their ice skates in hell) you'll need to do your own checking. Eggs from truly pastured hens often are found at farmers’ markets and local farm stands, where you can chat with farmers about the condition of their flocks. It’s also possible that a conversation with a grocery store manager about the nutritional benefits of truly free-range eggs might bring them to your local supermarket as well."

http://presbyterian.typepad.com/foodandfaith/2008/12/free-range-eggs.html