General Mills Will Go 100 Percent Cage-Free

[Judi Lynn]

General Mills Will Go 100 Percent Cage-Free

July 7, 2015

Within the last six months or so, we’ve worked with many of the biggest names in the food business to announce their commitment to stop selling eggs from caged hens. Aramark, Compass Group, Dunkin Brands, Hilton, Kellogg, Nestle, Sodexo, Starbucks, and Walmart have all made public pledges to shift their egg-purchasing practices away from battery cage confinement systems. Today, we’re pleased to announce that General Mills, one of the nation’s largest food makers, is joining the list.

“We commit to working toward 100 percent cage free eggs for our U.S. operations,” says General Mills – which owns brands like Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, Progresso Soups, and Hamburger Helper – in its new policy. “We recognize that the current avian influenza outbreak has been deeply disruptive to the U.S. egg supply and producers. As the industry works to rebuild its supply chain, we will work with suppliers to determine a path and reasonable timeline toward this commitment.”

General Mills is grounding its policy on the Five Freedoms of Animal Welfare, a set of principles that will translate into better outcomes for all of the animals in its supply chain. With the Five Freedoms in mind, the company’s policy pledges continual improvement by also examining solutions to solve other key animal welfare concerns, including subjecting animals to tail docking, de-horning, and, without the administration of pain killers, castration. It’s also translating into an examination of issues related to rapid growth of broiler chickens and turkeys.

Certainly the highlight of this announcement is the commitment to switch to 100 percent cage-free eggs. And as the egg industry considers its production strategies in light of the impact of bird flu on cage confinement facilities, there’s an opportunity for the industry to pivot away from caging hens altogether and make the transition to higher-welfare, cage-free systems.

More:
http://blog.humanesociety.org/wayne/2015/07/general-mills-will-go-cage-free.html?utm_source=ha_070715&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=fap

[merrily]

1. When traveling, I've made eggs, so fresh out of a cage free hen they were still warm

when a generous soul handed them to me.

This is not a common experience for someone who has always lived in cities. What a difference in taste, even from organic eggs bought in the city. It's will be a welcome memory until my memory is no more.

[peacebird]

2. We always loved our fresh eggs from our happy freeranging hens! Our new flock is 20 strong & will

begin laying in a couple months! Can't wait. Yesterday was the pullets first time out of their 8x40' coop into the run. They of course, discovered two ways to squeak out of the run and into the orchard! Those are now secured. A couple more weeks with days in the run, where they go back in the coop on their own at night and then they will be given the freedom to wander the orchard and meadow at will during the days.
And you are right, the eggs are sublime... The shells are hard, the whites stand up in the pan when you crack them, and the yolks stand atop the whites as bright orange domes! Not the papery shelled runny slime with insipid yellow yolk eggs you get in the store, even when marketed as "freerange organic"

I'm now getting hungry....

[merrily]

3. What is the deal with the shells anyway, do you know?

I remember my mom cracking eggs hard on the rim of her frying pan without having the shell disintegrate, just a relatively clean break. What causes these crumbly shells?

[peacebird]

4. Not sure, it could be diet too poor in calcium, or stress from living conditions? Factory hen houses

run lights to increase production. If the birds are loving in cramped quarters without access to sunlight and exercise I can believe they would be stressed. My hens eggs are always hard, except the first couple they lay.

[merrily]

5. Thanks.