Egg Farmers Set the Record Straight

Online, April 1, 2015 (Newswire.com) - The National Association of Egg Farmers representing egg farmers nationwide, says the media has been misinformed about egg production practices.  This has led some food companies to source their eggs from cage-free farmers believing it is more humane or better from a food safety perspective.  Today’s modern conventional cages used in producing eggs provide:

1)      A humane way of producing eggs

So here are the facts from today’s farmers concerning the welfare of the chicken. Every egg farmer knows that increasing the population size of a flock of chickens increases the stress on those chickens due to the establishment of a “pecking order” among the chickens.  The behavior inherent in chickens is to determine the social standing of the individual hens through “pecking” each other.  The individual chicken lower in the social order is pecked the most.  When chickens are housed in conventional cages with 6 chickens, the establishment of this pecking order is minimized compared to upwards of 60 chickens in the California-style enhanced, colony cages, and even more so in an aviary (cage-free chickens) with thousands of chickens.  

2)      Provide a safe and wholesome egg

In considering food safety, eggs laid on the floor in an aviary system have more pathogenic bacteria from contact with manure.  This is virtually eliminated in conventional cages where the birds stand on a wire and the manure falls below the cages and away from the eggs. As published in Food Control [47 (2015) 161-165] entitled "Microbiological Contamination of Shell Eggs Produced in Conventional [battery cages] and Free-Range" the authors from Clemson University reported bacteria on egg shell surfaces were 90% greater in free-range over battery cages (conventional cages). Salmonella for free-range was 2.36% and 0 for battery eggs. 

3)      Provide a lower cost for a high quality protein product

Lastly, consumers benefit from conventional caged egg production with a lower cost for a high quality protein product.  The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply reported recently the cage-free eggs (aviaries) were thirty-six percent more expensive that conventional caged eggs and enhanced colony caged eggs were thirteen percent more expensive.  When California implemented it egg law this past January, the price difference between the wholesale price of eggs in the state compared to the Midwest peaked at $2.00 a dozen more.  Retail prices of a dozen eggs were reported in San Francisco to reach $6.00 per dozen.  

Today’s egg farmer, using conventional cage systems, is producing a safe and wholesome egg while providing for the needs of each chicken.