Egg consumers file lawsuit to stop the sale of eggs labeled "Animal Care Certified"
February 15, 2005
Washington, D.C.—In a lawsuit filed today against Giant Foods, Brookeville Supermarket, and Lehman's Egg Service, Compassion Over Killing (COK) and four egg consumers allege that the "Animal Care Certified" (ACC) logo stamped on egg cartons deceives shoppers by conveying a false message of humane animal care. Despite the Better Business Bureau ruling that the ACC logo and related advertising are misleading and its referral of the matter for legal action to the Federal Trade Commission, the egg industry continues to use the logo on egg cartons nationwide.
The "Animal Care Certified" guidelines permit egg producers to:
- Confine birds in cages so small they can't even spread their wings,
- Slice off parts of their beaks without painkiller, and
- Starve them to the point where they've lost 30 percent of their bodyweight.
In the lawsuit, consumers who purchased ACC-labeled eggs claim they were under the impression they were supporting humane animal treatment, and then later learned of the abusive conditions permitted under the ACC program.
According to COK Director Erica Meier, "The routine abuses endured by egg-laying hens are so disturbing that it shouldn't surprise us that the egg industry resorts to misleading its customers in order to maintain sales. The 'Animal Care Certified' program is a shameful public relations scam, and consumers deserve to know the truth."
The Humane Society of the United States has also condemned the ACC guidelines, claiming they "seem designed more to mollify consumers than to address the extreme animal welfare abuses that have become the norm in this industry." Additionally, industry insiders who were initially part of the program and at least one egg producer have publicly criticized the ACC's minimum standards.
More than 85 percent of the nation's egg producers are now certified under the voluntary "Animal Care Certified" program. Presently in the U.S., there are approximately 300 million egg-laying hens confined inside what are known as "battery cages" where, even by ACC standards, each bird is afforded less space than a single sheet of paper. Welfare concerns have prompted several European countries to ban battery cages, and the use of these barren cages will be phased out of the entire European Union by 2012. The EU has also issued a regulation banning deceptive advertising like the ACC logo.
Visit EggScam.com for photos of standard conditions on "Animal Care Certified" egg farms, as well as expert opinions from animal scientists about the program's guidelines.
Contact Erica Meier to set up an interview with COK General Counsel Carter Dillard.
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