With 10 million hens housing conditions at stake, Rembrandt Foods has announced that it will move forward with plans to provide a cage-free environment for its hens, according to Alternet. The Iowa-based company, which is the third biggest egg producer in the U.S., said Thursday that they intend for "cage-free egg production to become the company's standard."
Coming off the heels of other industry giants such as Hickman Farms in Arizona and Rose Acre, Rembrandt's decision was considered a huge step in the right direction for propelling the industry forward into a more humane direction, said Wayne Pacelle of the Humane Society of the United States, according to The Dodo.
"With the unprecedented number of top food companies announcing timelines to switch exclusively to cage-free eggs, we are uniquely positioned for the future to cage-free eggs and egg products," said Dave Rettig, president of Rembrandt Foods.
Aramark, Compass Group and Sodexo, America's three largest food service companies, announced their pledge to go 100 percent cage-free by 2020 earlier this year.
In addition, fast food eateries McDonald's and Burger King, as well as Starbucks, have all made pledges to be cage-free in the near future. With the ever-rising prices of eggs due to the avian flu crisis, this feat is daunting but shows a commitment to make these progressive changes.
"Our customers are increasingly interested in knowing more about their food and where it comes from," McDonald's USA President Mike Andres said, as previously reported by HNGN. "Our decision to source only cage-free eggs reinforces the focus we place on food quality and our menu to meet and exceed our customers' expectations."
While cage-free does not mean cruelty free, it is a huge improvement over the current conditions that hens face in this industry. While the verbiage can be misleading, cage-free hens will be housed in larger cages with other hens and are able to walk, lay eggs in nests, perch, take dust baths and spread their wings, unlike current battery caged hens who spend their entire lives stuffed into a cage the size of a standard sized piece of paper, approximately 8 x 11 inches.
