http://www.traderjoes.com/products/eggissue.aspTrader Joe’s Message to Customers regarding Eggs
Here’s some background:
In June of 2005, the leader of a national activist group (The Humane Society of the United States) wrote to us twice seeking support for their cage-free egg campaign.
We respectfully responded to let them know this is not the sort of thing that we do. We receive many requests to partner with organizations in order to tackle a myriad of social, economic, political, humane, and environmental issues. Trader Joe’s cannot honestly represent the politics and values of each individual customer; therefore we elect not to partner with any one group or organization.
Shortly after the second letter arrived, we were notified that since we did not take the action they requested, we would be the target of a coordinated email campaign against our company.
A few days later, a massive email campaign was launched against many of our communication systems. (Over 30,000 emails were sent in a two-day period, all of which appear to have been generated from a single server at the activist group site).
Here are some facts:
Egg production is a major industry, with some 3 billion cartons (dozens) of eggs produced each year. Of this total production, 95% are conventional, and 5% are cage free. Our egg suppliers follow strict guidelines for animal welfare that have been approved by the FDA and USDA. Following these guidelines allows our suppliers to be identified as “Animal Care Certified.” To be classified as “Animal Care Certified,” the egg farms are inspected and audited by the USDA on a regular basis. In addition, our buyers inspect our suppliers to make sure the guidelines are being followed.
Here’s what we think:
We have offered our customers the choice of both conventional eggs and cage-free eggs since 1993. Trader Joe’s will continue to sell conventional eggs as long as the USDA, or another reputable third-party agency certifies our suppliers.
The activist website states “people won’t mind paying $1 more for cage-free eggs.”
We at Trader Joe’s will not alter our selection, or raise our prices, based on assumptions about our customers. Eggs are a basic for many families. As such, we don’t want to only offer them eggs at a significantly higher price. While we appreciate the value of cage free eggs, for many, they’d prefer to get a good price on this everyday basic.
Our customers are smart, and we believe in giving our customers the opportunity to make their own decisions.