An Animal Advocacy Group Said It Is Filing A Lawsuit Tuesday Claiming...
By Gretchen Parker
The Associated Press
February 15, 2005
ANNAPOLIS, Md. - An animal advocacy group said it is filing a lawsuit Tuesday
claiming that several retailers are peddling eggs labeled "Animal Care
Certified," even though the egg industry routinely treats the birds inhumanely.
Compassion Over Killing, a Takoma Park-based animal advocacy group, is suing
Giant Food Inc. of Landover, Lehman's Egg Service Inc. of Pennsylvania and Brookville
Supermarket of Washington, D.C. The suit, filed in Superior Court in Washington,
alleges that the grocery chains are selling eggs stamped with a logo that deceives
customers.
Atlanta-based United Egg Producers began the logo program three years ago,
in an attempt to set some industry standards for the treatment of hens, said
Mitch Head, a spokesman for the trade association. Since then, 80 percent of
egg producers have qualified for the program. Without the voluntary certification,
the egg industry would revert to having no standards at all, he said Monday.
He called the suit a "nuisance lawsuit."
Compassion Over Killing argues that the standards are too lax. The suit complains
that hens are allowed to be kept in cages with bottoms smaller than the size
of a sheet of paper, that they're starved to the point of losing 30 percent
of their body weight and have their beaks partially burned off without painkillers.
Two years ago, the advocacy group petitioned the Better Business Bureau, claiming
that United Egg Producers were engaging in false advertising. The bureau, which
has no enforcement authority, ruled in Compassion Over Killing's favor and said
the label is misleading. The case since has been referred to the Federal Trade
Commission, which has not taken action. The advocacy group hopes court action
will force the labels that are misleading to be withdrawn, said Erica Meier,
spokeswoman for Compassion Over Killing.
Giant Food Inc. didn't return calls Monday seeking comment. Lehman's Egg Service,
an egg distributor based in Greencastle, Pa., referred all questions to United
Egg Producers
Copyright 2005 by The Associated Press
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