Notre Dame Food Services can do better.
Unfortunately, ND serves us eggs that come from caged hens, each
confined in a space smaller than a single sheet of loose-leaf paper – a meager
67 square inches.
Farm Sanctuary
Hens confined in battery cages are unable to engage in
many of their most important natural behaviors such as dust bathing, perching,
scratching, walking, or even spreading their wings. These cages are so tiny
that the hens can barely move.
Barren battery cages are so cruel, they are being banned
throughout the entire European Union. Countries such as
Germany
,
Austria
, and
Switzerland
have already criminalized this abusive factory farm practice.
The two largest
U.S.
natural foods chains, Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural Marketplace,
refuse to sell eggs from caged hens. Trader Joe’s has the same policy for
its private label cartons. Both Google and AOL refuse to use battery cage eggs
in their corporate cafeterias. Ben & Jerry’s is phasing out its use of
eggs from caged hens in all of its products. And more than 100 schools across
the country have either eliminated or dramatically reduced their use of
battery cage eggs.
Even the City of Takoma Park, Maryland, passed a
unanimous resolution condemning battery cage confinement and urging its
residents not to buy eggs from caged birds.
If you want to
help urge ND Food Services make the socially responsible move and switch to
cage-free eggs, please contact us at dnunez@nd.edu.
For more information on battery cages, visit www.NoBatteryEggs.com
ND
Food Services has taken the fringe stance that it’s humane to confine hens in
battery cages so small, the birds can’t even spread their wings. See what
others have to say about the issue:
“Hens live
so packed together that they become just caricatures of birds, this degrading of
living creatures to a commodity seems to me in fact to contradict the
relationship of mutuality that comes across in the Bible.”
- Pope Benedict XVI
“The Catholic Church position is clear on this matter: confining hens in battery
cages is unquestionably cruel and should not be
supported.”
- Brother Dave Andrews, executive director of the
National
Catholic
Rural
Life
Center
“
Battery
cage confinement is one of the cruelest practices in the world of factory
farming today. No socially responsible institution should support this type of
abuse.”
- Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of the Humane Society of the
United States
“
Battery
cage operations and other industrial scale livestock facilities are notorious
for major pollution problems….We urge individuals, dining services, and food
industry businesses to join other socially responsible food purchasers across
the country that have made the switch to cage-free eggs.”
- Velma Smith, senior policy associate of the National Environmental Trust
“I speak for all of us at Ben & Jerry’s to say how
pleased we are to announce this transition to the use of exclusively cage-free
eggs.”
- Walt Freese, CEO of Ben & Jerry’s
“Google has always been a leader in social
responsibility, which is why we are proud to exclusively use cage-free eggs in
all of our corporate dining facilities.”
- John Dickman, global food service manager of Google.
“AOL’s concern for social responsibility, including
animal welfare, led us to distance ourselves from battery cage eggs and switch
to exclusively cage-free eggs in our dining facilities.”
- Alan Nielsen, vice president of AOL
If you want to help
urge ND Food Services make the socially responsible move and switch to cage-free
eggs, please contact us at dnunez@nd.edu.
For more information on battery cages, visit www.NoBatteryEggs.com