COK Petitions FDA to Mandate Full Disclosure on Egg Cartons

Lack of regulations permits misleading claims and consumer fraud

Walk into any grocery store in the United States today, and you’ll likely find cartons of eggs bearing a variety of advertising schemes ranging from images of happy hens roaming around outside to claims such as “animal-friendly.”

Surprisingly though, what consumers see or read on the outside of an egg carton doesn’t necessarily represent how the hens who laid those eggs were treated.

Read below to find out how you can take action to help egg-laying hens.

Eggs-Aggerated Claims

Animal welfare claims on egg cartons are currently unregulated in the United States, enabling egg producers to mislead consumers with exaggerated and false claims.

More than 95% of eggs sold in the U.S. come from birds confined in wire battery cages so small, they can barely even move—a practice that, according to recent polls, most consumers find unacceptable. Furthermore, many experts agree that confining hens in battery cages causes tremendous suffering. Despite these expert opinions and widespread public opposition, battery cage confinement continues to dominate the U.S. egg industry (visit EggIndustry.com for more information about egg production).

However, without any federal oversight, claims on egg cartons can—and commonly do—misrepresent to consumers how those eggs were produced. Compassion Over Killing has documented several cases of express and implied claims on egg cartons across the country that imply a higher level of animal care than is actually the case. Deceptive marketing on cartons of eggs produced by birds likely to have been confined in cages include:

• The claim, “animal-friendly”
• Images of hens outside on a green pasture
• Images of hens laying eggs in nests (caged birds are not provided space or materials for nesting)
• The claim, “certified animal care”
• The claim, “naturally raised hens”

In other words, not only is the egg industry cruelly confining hens in cages, it’s also deceiving consumers about that abuse.

Taking Action: Truth in Labeling—“Eggs from Caged Hens”

In September 2006, one year after the Federal Trade Commission announced an end to the United Egg Producers' misleading "Animal Care Certified" logo, COK filed a petition requesting the Food and Drug Administration to take action to protect consumers against a broad scope of misrepresentations on egg cartons.

The petition, co-filed by Compassion Over Killing and Penn Law Animal Law Project *, urges the FDA to establish a uniform, market-wide regulation mandating the labeling of egg production methods on egg cartons (i.e. “eggs from caged hens”) to protect consumers from false and misleading advertising. Read the entire petition.

The egg industry in the U.S. has proven to be incapable of regulating itself, and without government standards in place, the current egg labeling landscape is essentially meaningless.

Mandatory labeling on egg cartons has already been implemented throughout the European Union and in several states in Australia. Consumers—and hens—in the U.S. deserve the same.

It’s important that the FDA hear from you! Please send a letter to the FDA (address at right) in support of our petition to mandate the labeling of production methods on egg cartons. Feel free to use the sample text to the right as a guide and be sure to include the petition’s docket number on all correspondence with the FDA: Docket # 2006P - 0394. Please note that your message will become public record and may be posted on the FDA’s website.

Other Ways You Can Help

Choose Egg-Free Foods. The best way each of us can help egg-laying hens is to leave their eggs out of our shopping carts.

• Order a free Vegetarian Starter Guide today
• Discover delicious egg-free products and recipes

Tell Your Friends and Family. Send them a link to this site and urge them contact the FDA in support of our petition.

Help Expose the Hard-Boiled Truth. Educate others and encourage them to take action by distributing our new Egg Carton flyer in your community!

Write a Letter. Please urge your legislators to ban the use of barren battery cages. Welfare concerns have already prompted the European Union to phase out the use of conventional battery cages by 2012. The U.S. should do the same. Contact your representatives and let them know that it’s time to ease the suffering of laying hens. Read COK’s report, Animal Suffering in the Egg Industry, to learn more about the inherent cruelties of the battery cage system.