Tuesday, September 1, 2009

Egg Industry Exposed

I am not a vegetarian, nor will I ever be. (Though sometimes I want to be.) I read this and wanted to post it, I have read many horrific scenarios about the chicken industry. As a result I try to make better decisions as to where my food comes from, but this I was unaware of. Please read and form your own opinions. Mine are that I am so thankful I can buy eggs from local farms, that we as a human race are the most cruel creatures on earth, and that there are people dying from starvation around the world and we grind up chicks like unwanted yard waste because when pumped with artificial growth hormones they don't grow fast enough. Oh, and these ground up chicks are probably then fed to their own species. Nice. (Note: I did not watch video)

Video shows unwanted male chicks ground up alive at Iowa egg hatchery
By FREDERIC J. FROMMER
Associated Press Writer
(AP) 03:19:14 PM (ET), Tuesday, September 1, 2009 (WASHINGTON)
An animal rights group is calling on the nation's largest grocery story chains to post warnings on egg cartons that unwanted male chicks are ground up alive, after videotaping the common industry practice at an Iowa egg hatchery.

In letters sent to the companies this week, Chicago-based Mercy for Animals says its undercover videotape at Hy-Line North America's hatchery in Spencer, Iowa, "exposes one of the industry's best kept secrets _ that the egg industry tears male chicks' bodies apart in grinding machines while they are still alive."

The group wants the chains to include a label on egg cartons that says, "Warning: Male chicks are ground-up alive by the egg industry." The letters were sent to 50 chains, including Walmart, Whole Foods, Safeway, Harris Teeter and Trader Joe's.

"The violence that you will see is standard and acceptable within the egg industry, and consumers have a right to know about this cruelty so that they can make informed and compassionate purchasing decisions," wrote Mercy for Animals' executive director, Nathan Runkle.

A spokesman for United Egg Producers, a trade group for U.S. egg farmers, called the proposal "almost a joke." Spokesman Mitch Head said Mercy for Animals had no credible authority, as well as questionable motives. "This is a group which espouses no egg consumption by anyone _ so that is clearly their motive." The video does in fact end with a call for people to adopt a vegan diet, which eliminates all animal products _ meat, eggs or dairy.

Hy-Line said in a statement it has started an investigation "of the entire situation," adding that it would have helped their investigation "had we been aware of the potential violation immediately after it occurred."

The video, shot with a hidden camera and microphone by a Mercy for Animals employee who got a job at the plant in May and June, shows a Hy-Line worker sorting through a conveyor belt of chirping chicks, flipping some of them into a chute like a poker dealer flips cards.

These chicks, which a narrator says are males, are then shown being dropped alive into a grinding machine.

In other parts of the video, a chick is shown dying on the factory floor amid a heap of egg shells after falling through a sorting machine. Another chick, also still alive, is seen lying on the floor after getting scalded by a wash cycle, according to the video narrator.

Hy-Line said the video "appears to show an inappropriate action and violation of our animal welfare policies," referring to chicks on the factory floor.

But the company also noted that "instantaneous euthanasia" _ a reference to killing of male chicks by the grinder _ is a standard practice supported by the animal veterinary and scientific community.

According to Mercy for Animals, male chicks are of no use to the industry because they can't lay eggs and don't grow large or quickly enough to be raised profitably for meat. That results in the killing of 200 million male chicks a year.

The United Egg Producers confirmed that figure and the practice behind it.

"There is, unfortunately, no way to breed eggs that only produce female hens," said spokesman Head. "If someone has a need for 200 million male chicks, we're happy to provide them to anyone who wants them. But we can find no market, no need."

Using a grinder, Head said, "is the most instantaneous way to euthanize chicks."

There is no federal law that ensures the humane euthanasia of animals on farms or hatcheries, according to Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel of the Humane Society of the United States.

Hy-Line says on its Web site that its Iowa facility produces 33.4 million chicks. Based on that figure, Mercy for Animals estimates a similar number of male chicks are killed at the facility each year. Hy-Line did not comment on that estimate.

Runkle, of Mercy for Animals, said most people would be shocked to learn that 200 million chicks are killed a year.

"Is this justifiable just for cheap eggs?" he said.

As to more humane alternatives to disposing of male chicks, Runkle said the whole system is inherently flawed.

"The entire industrial hatchery system subjects these birds to stress, fear and pain from the first day," he said.

___

On the Web:

Mercy for Animals video: http://www.mercyforanimals.org/hatchery

5 comments:

Ruth Trowbridge said...

this is the number one reason I live the way I do - i do not eat anything tortured by life - great post, couldn't watch either, peace

Michelle @ Give a Girl a Fig said...

This is so sad...SO sad. Oh my gosh...I don't know how people can be so heartless...

Wren said...

I read this on the news this morning too and it made me sick. Couldn't watch it either. My life is changing slowly as my eyes continue to open more. The book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle has my wheels totally spinning..

Thomas said...

Awful. We're also lucky to be able to get our eggs from a local farmer. It's amazing some of the things these industry people will say in order to justify their actions. And who says that this "efficiency" and "cheap food" is necessarily a good thing? If we placed as much value on the food that we eat as we do the cellphone and cars that we buy, we would be a much healthier and happier society.

Ms B. Thrift said...

Some farmers really are dispicable how they treat their hens, it's awful and was very well highlighted in the UK last year by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in his "Chicken Out" campaign of both cheap eggs and chickens in supermarkets, but i guess us as consumers are also to blame for demanding our produce cheaper than it is able to be ethically farmed, a double edged sword indeed. I love to get my eggs from my lovely local farmer whose hens i see hapoily clucking about in his yard/stable/field (or sometimes even his kitchen) when i call in, fab value too for £1.20 a dozen, and very delicious.