FOX News Shows Debate on California Ballot Initiative for Cage-Free Chickens

Here’s the video at appeared on FOX News October 28, 2018:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cage-free-eggs-on-the-midterm-ballot-for-californians

 

Ken Klippen lives in Philadelphia, but he’s trying to save egg farmers in the Midwest from a ballot measure in California. As the president of the National Association of Egg Farmers, Klippen says that Proposition 12 on the ballot in California this November, will cause “some major changes in the way eggs are produced.” The measure, which Klippen calls “precedent setting,” is titled the Farm Animal Confinement Initiative. It would ban the sale of eggs in California that come from hens raised in small cages. It would do the same for pigs and calves.

That means most farmers who sell their produce in the state of California will either have to change their farming practices or lose one of the biggest markets in the country.

 

The Association of California Egg Farmers and National Pork Producers Council both oppose the measure.

 

Fox News spoke with a third-generation egg farmer, Chris Nichols of Chino Valley Ranchers, who also opposes Prop 12. “I would say the people who do suffer in the end are the consumer,” Nichols explained, “because your price is going up.”

Cage-free eggs can cost as much as twice as regular eggs. Some worry that this measure will take away consumer choice, if it passes.

 

Josh Balk of the Humane Society of the United States, the group that supports the proposition, disagrees. Balk said that “everyone from Walmart to McDonald’s to Safeway to Denny’s to IHOP are all switching to cage-free eggs.”

 

Klippen said that although the Humane Society pretends to be a shelter organization, it is simply pushing a secret national agenda: getting people to stop eating meat altogether.

“Not only meat,” Klippen added, “but stop [drinking] milk and stop eating eggs. So, meat, milk and eggs, that’s their agenda.”

 

When asked about this assertion, Balk replied that “everyone from vegans to meat eaters can completely agree, that animals should not be confined in cages.”

Cages that are often too small to move an inch.

 

Food Safety Claims By Animal Activists Unfounded

Lately, animal activists are claiming that conventional cages are creating health risks from increased incidence of Salmonella.  Like their welfare claims, this is unfounded and illogical.  Consider the following:
 
1) The claims that caged layers increases Salmonella is not even logical.  The Food & Drug Administration has issued a regulation entitled Prevention of Salmonella Enteritidis in Shell Eggs During Production, Storage, and Transportation (21 CFR part 118) on July 9, 2009 requiring shell egg farmers to implement measures to prevent SE from contaminating eggs on the farm.  If caged environments increased Salmonella, it’s inconceivable that FDA would issue regulations governing the production of eggs in caged environments.
2) The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply finished their two-year study of the available research including food safety.  The conclusions from their analysis of the research is that eggs produced in caged environments had less fecal contamination compared to cage-free eggs. This is logical since cages allow for the eggs to be removed from the environment of the hen compared to cage-free where the eggs come into contact with manure.  Any reasoning person would conclude that keeping eggs clean and away from manure is better from a food safety perspective.  Caged eggs allow for cleaner eggs.
3) The Journal Poultry Science in 2011 [90, pp. 1586-1593] published “Comparison of shell bacteria from unwashed and washed table eggs harvested from caged laying hens and cage-free floor-housed laying hens.”  This study found that the numbers of bacteria on eggs was lower in housing systems that separated hens from manure and shavings.
4) The Journal Food Control published a study June 17, 2014 entitled “Microbiological Contamination of Shell Eggs Produced in Conventional and Free-Range Housing Systems”  The conclusions state “Battery caged hens are standing on wire slats that allow feces to fall to a manure collection system beneath the hens.  Conversely, free-range hens laid their eggs in nest boxes on shavings and the eggs remained in contact with hens, shavings and fecal material until they are collected.  The longer contact time with free-range hens, shavings and feces would explain the higher enterobacteriaceae counts (pathogenic bacteria) on free-range eggs as compared to battery caged eggs.”
5) As to the welfare of caged hens compared to cage-free, any reasoning person can see just watching that hens peck each other to establish the pecking order.  In a caged environment, the number of hens are minimized compared to the hundreds on the floor where the lower hen on the pecking order is pecked more often.  That would help explain what mortality among cage-free hens at the University of Bristol (UK) showed 19.1% compared to 3% for caged layers.  In the U.S. the comparison is even greater with cage-free at 28% compared to 9% for caged layers (North Carolina State University).  Furthermore, the immune response (measured from hematological and immunological indices at NC State) showed free-range chickens with poorer immune response thus leaving the chicken more vulnerable to disease.  Logically then, caged layers have lower stress when noting the mortality and immune response investigations.

First Annual Meeting of National Egg Farmers

The first annual meeting of the National Egg Farmers Association was held March 13, 2018 at Minneapolis Convention Center.  

This open meeting to all egg farmers and allied industry showed how this first national association representing egg farmers is informing farmers, legislators, retailers, food companies, consumers and the media that conventional cages produce a wholesome egg while caring the needs of the chicken.

 

National Egg Farmers Association (NEFA) Strategic Plan July 2017

 

Vision Statement: On behalf of the members of the organization, to always serve their best interests in matters of significant importance to their success within the egg industry.

 

Mission Statement: To ensure that the entire US Egg Industry fights to remain “market-driven”, with “consumer choice” being maintained throughout the US Animal/Poultry Agricultural Industries. 

Structure: 501(c) (3) IRS Tax-Exempt National Association (official filing on Oct 30, 2017).  

1.The number one goal of NEFA is promote and support food safety and security issues as it relates to the egg industry generally and the membership’s business interests specifically.

2.The number two goal of NEFA is promote and support human health and welfare concerns as it relates to the egg industry generally and the membership’s interests specifically.

3.The number three goal of NEFA is to promote and support sustainable egg production systems that best provides for a sustainable environment for human health.

4.The number four goal of NEFA is to promote and support the animal welfare and husbandry practices that, not only provides the best for the animals, but that of the entire human

NEFA Staff have a combined 87 years experience in the egg and poultry business.

NEFA 3-member Board has a combined 96 years experience in the egg and poultry business.

 

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