On Wednesday, September 9th egg farmers across this nation read with great interest McDonald’s press release on the decision to transition to cage-free eggs. As a major buyer of shell eggs, you have the right to outline your specifications, but in claiming the transition was to provide more humane and better quality eggs, you have damaged the majority of egg farmers nationwide and have put on alert the entire agricultural community.

When you became co-sponsors of the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply, the results did not conclude that cage-free eggs are produced more humanely, nor are they better quality. In effect you threw those scientists and the egg farmers who believed in you “under the bus”. 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 thousands of chickens in a cage-free environment.  Imagine the chicken on the lower end of the pecking order among a population of thousands compared to only six chickens.

Concerning the claims from McDonald’s about improving the quality of food, consider the food safety concerns reported on with cage-free eggs. 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. Conventional cages allow the feces to drop through the screen floor whereas in cage-free systems, the eggs are laid in the same general area for manure.  The potential for contamination is increased.

These results were confirmed in 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 (conventional cages) are standing on wire slats that allow feces to fall to a manure collection system beneath the hens.  Conversely, free-range hens (cage-free) 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.”

You may congratulate yourselves on this new policy, and animal activists will mark their score cards as accomplishing another defeat for egg farmers. The egg farmers themselves are wondering why anyone would want to revert to the former ways of producing eggs that was more stressful for the chicken and may compromise the quality and food safety of the eggs for their consumers.

There will some who oppose this viewpoint and will try to marginalize our association or me personally.  So, for the record, the National Association of Egg Farmers has 277 egg farmers as members.  That’s among the largest of all national egg associations.  Most are small family farms ranging from one managing 8,000 chickens to others with greater than 5 million chickens.  Other groups have more chickens in their member base, but the larger farmers who can weather the transition are gleeful to see the smaller farmers leave the business and the markets they’ve established.  For me personally, I have served the egg industry for nearly 35 years in executive capacities.  Initially I was the Senior Vice President at United Egg Producers (UEP) before moving to London, England to serve as Director General of the International Egg Commission.  After returning to the U.S., UEP invited me back to head up their Washington, DC office.  I left of my own volition in 2004 when I saw upper management making decisions that I considered injurious to some egg farmers. 

Ken Klippen, President, National Association of Egg Farmers

1. 1)On July 16^th the New York Times reported on the trend toward cage-free is not without its problems

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/17/business/eggs-that-clear-the-cages-but-maybe-not-the-conscience.html?_r=2

All that newfound freedom can introduce health risks for hens, workers and consumers. The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply, a group of animal welfare scientists, academics, egg farmers and big companies, recently released a report documenting several troubling aspects of aviary systems. (The group is backed both by egg producers, which have little incentive to change their ways, and food companies that have pledged to go cage-free.)

Perhaps most troubling, “hen mortality was much higher in the aviary system,” the report said. When hens move around more freely, it is easier for them to spread germs. And hens in cage-free aviaries were also more aggressive than their cage-bound peers, pecking at one another and, in some instances, becoming cannibalistic.

1. 2)On July 18^th Food Dive published this report on cage-free egg production.

http://www.fooddive.com/news/how-hidden-costs-of-cage-free-eggs-can-impact-the-supply-chain/422759/

• Sourcing 100% cage-free eggs has become a popular trend among food manufacturers that use eggs in their products. But aviaries, the most common industrial cage-free alternative for housing egg-laying hens, bear their own risks and problems for the hens, employees and the environment, according to a new report from the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply.
• In aviary systems, hen mortality is higher than traditional battery cages because it is easier for the hens to spread germs. Hens in this environment also tend to become more aggressive, including pecking at one another or even becoming cannibalistic.
• Aviaries can also increase health risks for employees who care for the hens and collect the eggs. This included being exposed to higher ammonia concentrations, dust levels and particulate matter emissions in the air, which can cause respiratory issues for workers.

October 1st in a Rose Garden address, President Donald Trump discussed the new trade deal with Canada and Mexico. He said the new United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) protects American workers, farmers, ranchers, and businesses. President Trump spoke of a number of issues from the new agreement. he stated “The USMCA scores a big win for American farmers by eliminating Canada’s “Class 7” program, which allowed others to undersell American dairy products. Canada will provide new access for U.S. dairy products, eggs, and poultry”.

The National Egg Farmers brought to the President’s attention the inequities of trade with Canada over eggs and egg products.  Our members, both shell egg and further processors, asked us to engage when the President first outlined his intentions to change NAFTA.  And we did! Please share this news with your non-member peers producing and processing eggs so they can appreciate we are not a one-issue association.

Many members of Congress and other organizations praising the new agreement.  These were collected by the Corn Refiners Association who spearheaded a coalition of farm groups, which included National Egg Farmers, to advocate for change in NAFTA. Of course, the Canadian Dairy Industry says they’ve been sold out, but the new agreement ends many of the barriers imposed on U.S. produced dairy and eggs.