Welfare Group Clashes with California over Battery Egg Law

US – The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) has mounted a legal case against California’s attempt to snub a law that will demand better layer bird treatment.
calendar icon 28 March 2014
clock icon 2 minute read

If introduced, the statute will outlaw the sale of eggs produced by hens in battery cages, labelled inhumane by the national welfare organisation.

Alabama, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Iowa have filed a lawsuit attempting to block the contentious cages, currently the method used for 90 per cent of US eggs, according to the HSUS.

State legal action follows a prolonged period for cage adaption after a California passed a law opting to give all farm animals enough space to ‘extend their limbs’, the HSUS added.

However, many egg producers are non-compliant with the new welfare rules, instead resolving to reverse the decision.

A HSUS spokesperson said: "It’s just not appropriate to jam six or eight birds in tiny spaces so they cannot move.

“These states are trying to force their sub-standard eggs on California consumers, even though the California legislature has declared such eggs to be repugnant to the state’s values and a threat to public health.”

Michael Priestley

Michael Priestley

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