Eggs Over Easy Thanks to Egg Producers
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McDonald's USA's new requirements for hen-friendly eggs from suppliers come partly from an idea hatched by forward-thinking egg producers.
McDonald's recently announced welfare requirements laying operations will have to meet to qualify as a supplier. It's been called the first program of its kind by a retail food service company. And while McDonald's should take some well-deserved bows, the landmark program was possible because egg producers met the fast-food giant more than halfway, says Jeff Armstrong, Purdue animal scientist and chair of the United Egg Producer's (UEP) welfare advisory committee.
"When McDonald's went looking for a way to address their concerns about laying operations, they were excited to find that the United Egg Producers had what they needed," Armstrong says.
The UEP committee began working on new guidelines for laying hen husbandry two years ago when Indiana egg producer Bob Krouse and other UEP leaders asked Purdue to help create a national-level scientific advisory committee.
Krouse says the industry group committee was asked to come up with the best scientific recommendations for well-being for laying operations, knowing that they would have to disqualify or modify some practices.
"Egg producers knew they needed to have a production based on science, not just experience or common practices," says Krouse, CEO of Midwest Poultry Services, a family business that supplies shell eggs to McDonald's.
Krouse says the UEP guidelines, which have not been finalized by the industry group, are nearly identical to the McDonald's recommendations and differ only in how they're implemented.
For example, UEP sets cage size per bird from 67 square inches to 86 square inches -- depending on the strain of the chickens -- and McDonald's chose 72 square inches for all birds.
The UEP allows induced molting under strict conditions, a practice McDonald's does not. McDonald's also expects its suppliers to comply by the end of 2001 while the UEP recommendations, which are voluntary, could take up to 10 years without market incentives.
While some egg producers have criticized both programs as too radical, Armstrong says it was industry and science that created the guidelines.
"The guidelines are based on the best available science. That means we validated certain practices and counseled against others based on objective studies and not just emotion or status quo," Armstrong says.
Krouse says the UEP has accepted all of the scientific advisory committee's recommendations, and a committee of egg producers has begun planning how to implement the program.
Changing generations of practices will be difficult, but necessary, if the industry wants to continue to operate with the goodwill of customers and consumers, Krouse says.
"If it was easy, everybody would be doing it," Krouse says. "But customers who are demanding usually stick with you for the long haul and they pay for what they ask for."
Armstrong says the UEP is continuing to fund research to further improve industry practices, such as looking for new methods to induce molting.
"People know very little about how food is raised, but they care deeply. Animal agriculture needs to be able to objectively defend what they do and why they do it," Armstrong says.
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This page is maintained by Carla Johnson (cj@aes.purdue.edu), Secretary, Agricultural Communication Service, Purdue University.
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