Lawsuit Launched Over Misleading “Cage-Free” Egg Labeling

in #food7 years ago

Trader Joe's is currently being sued over their egg advertising, which suggests that their eggs are “cage free”.

The lawsuit has been launched by the Animal Legal Defense Fund; a non-profit law group that focuses on the interests of animals. They want Trader Joe's to stop misleading consumers by giving them the impression that their eggs are coming from hens that are living in a natural environment; under natural conditions.

Their carton depicts an image of birds that are able to roam freely in a vast, open green space. And this is often very far from the truth when we see egg cartons on the shelves that claim to be “cage free, or “free range”.

It's alleged that Trader Joe's hens specifically are kept in industrial hen houses and they don't have access to any green pastures. They are never exposed to the outdoors, roaming around on green grass like the picture suggests. And if many consumers knew this, then they might not be purchasing those eggs.

Pasture raised, unlike cage free, ensures that the birds get to roam freely outside like you would expect when seeing a picture like that depicted on the Trader Joe's egg carton. Aside from pasture-raised there is also the option for 'free-roaming' or 'certified organic' egg options which also promise outdoor access to the birds, but sometimes you find those birds aren't given as much liberty as the pasture-raised variety.

Below is an image that shows the differences between the spaces afforded for the “free range”, “cage free” and “caged” variety, compared to the pasture-raised.

Unfortunately, this further goes to demonstrate how the labels on our food are frequently misleading and if we want to be sure of the quality of our food then we should know exactly where it is coming from, or even take the time to grow it ourselves. Whether that's a few herbs on the windowsill, a few veggies in the backyard, or a much larger scale growing operation, embracing any level of self-sufficiency in this area can provide a variety of benefits.

The increasing need for quality food has fueled an explosion worldwide, in the number of people who have started growing their own food. A variety of projects are looking to use hydroponics, underground greenhouses, growing on rooftops, balconies, in old fallout shelters, anywhere that they can in order to try and meet the need for quality food.

If you want quality, then it is often going to come with a higher price but it's important to vote with your dollars for the growing methods, animal-raising practices etc, that you support.

The lawsuit by the ALDF has been launched in the California Superior Court and if successful in their efforts, they are ultimately looking to use force via the state to try and solve the problem. This is because they are turning to the state to try and force Trader Joe's to stop engaging in what they see as deceptive labeling practices. Trying to tell them how to label their products. And force isn't the only way to get things done, nor an effective way to try and solve issues.

The more information that you have about where your food is coming from, the more informed a decision you can make about what to buy. Thanks to the internet there are many resources available to try and research different food companies and determine how the food is made or what goes into the process.

You could delegate that responsibility to someone else. For example, you could just always trust the USDA organic label (or some other label) to direct your consumer choices for you. But then, you might come to later regret that decision.

To be sure that the labels that you see on your food products aren't deceiving you, you might want to spend a little time getting to know those businesses more and what goes into the production process for their goods.

Pics:
pixabay
via rootsimple
Vital Farms via huff post
giphy

Sources:
https://mic.com/articles/188568/trader-joes-sued-for-advertising-suggesting-its-eggs-come-from-free-roaming-hens#.QGowvDQCW
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/food-and-drink/features/forget-free-range-is-grass-fed-and-pasture-raised-better-for-ani/
http://nationalpost.com/life/food/trader-joes-is-being-sued-for-a-misleading-egg-carton-but-what-does-it-mean-to-say-eggs-are-free-run-or-free-range
https://iegpolicy.agribusinessintelligence.informa.com/PL215737/Lawsuit-targets-Trader-Joes-for-deceptive-imagery-on-cagefree-eggs

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https://steemit.com/food/@doitvoluntarily/the-fight-for-egg-freedom-against-california

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I would blame this one on the USDA. They are the ones that came up with this term.

Further little tid-bits is that the "farmer" just has to open the cage door for an hour. The chicken never has to leave and it is called cage free... or some such. You can look up all the definitions. The are nothing close to what anybody (who hasn't seen factory farming) would envision by these words.

Its like whey in ice cream. Why would they use whey? So they can call it ice cream.

thanks for pointing this out. I buy my eggs there and assumed that the chickens were happy as could be running around doing their chicken thing.

Its cardboard represents an image of birds that can roam freely in a vast open green space. And this is often far from the truth when we see egg cartons on the shelves claiming to be "cage-free" or "open field".

What can we call this? publicity, misleading offer, liveliness?? money influences the human being so much that it never ceases to amaze me that these things happen, greed induces lies, to win customers who hopefully won't know the truth... hopefully we will love each other as brothers and instead of cheating, we will look for better strategies to attract customers.

Wonderfully informative Posts, All easy to understand and appreciate the helpful tips. Great end product and love the out takes, Thank you.

It's good that in your country they are regulating very important eggs, here in Venezuela we can not even buy eggs, an egg carton costs 550 thousand strong bolivars are very expensive as everything here is a disaster, happy night @doitvoluntarily

I’m glad they’re further regulating. These huge companies are lying to the public. Of course the prices of good eggs in cities are absurd. Where I live the truly cage free pastured happy chickens’ eggs go for $2 a doz, but that’s because there is no market. One of the reasons I live in the country- to get away from the bullshit mentioned in this article!!

Yes, if many of us can't call ourselves vegans yet, but we want our conscience clean. It's important for me to know that eggs or meat that I eat are produced in a more humane way. that the animals were kept in good conditions and did not experience flour in life.

I am always grateful to someone who did bother to investigate something that we need to know. I too wondered sometime what this "cage free' really means, but did not look deeper into it. Mostly because I buy from people that have chickens in their gardens so I know where those eggs came form. Not all people can do that though.
Thank you for this informative post.

@jlufer friend very good blog thank you for disseminating this type of information so that people are more clear of the products they offer and do not fall for deceptive offers greetings