Another Egg Recall Illustrates that Factory Farms are Breeding Grounds for Disease

Demonstrating once again that factory egg farms are breeding grounds for disease, more than a quarter million salmonella-contaminated eggs have been recalled from eight states. This time, the recall stems from Ohio Fresh Eggs, a factory egg farm financially backed by Austin "Jack" DeCoster, the owner of the Iowa egg farm at the center of one of the largest egg recalls in history earlier this year. Considering DeCoster's 30-year track record of abusing workers, animals and the environment, this latest egg recall should come as no surprise.

In 2004, MFA investigators documented filthy, disease-ridden conditions at Ohio Fresh Eggs, including hundreds of thousands of egg-laying hens with broken, damaged, and feces-covered feathers packed into battery cages so small they couldn't spread their wings, and chicken corpses left to rot in cages with birds still producing eggs for human consumption.

The below video illustrates conditions inside Ohio Fresh Eggs.

Last year, MFA's investigation at a DeCoster egg factory farm in Maine found birds suffering from broken bones, bloody open wounds and untreated infections in cages stacked in tiers with feces from birds in the higher tiers falling through the wire cage floors onto birds below. The investigation resulted in a raid by state police and the facility pleading guilty to 10 counts of cruelty to animals and agreeing to pay more than $130,000 in fines and restitution.

The below video illustrates conditions inside DeCoster's Maine egg farm.

But DeCoster's egg factory farms are hardly the only threat to animal welfare and public health. Over 97 percent of egg-laying hens in this country are crammed into filthy wire cages so crowded they are unable to even spread their wings, much less escape their own feces or the feces of the birds around them. The overwhelming body of scientific evidence confirms what common sense should already tell us - it's not only extremely cruel but also dangerous to human health to confine egg-laying hens in filthy, disease-ridden wire cages.

One of the best common-sense actions consumers can take to prevent animal cruelty and reduce their risk of salmonella is to adopt a healthy and compassionate vegan diet. Click here for tips on baking without eggs.

Another Egg Recall Illustrates that Factory Farms are Breeding Grounds for Disease

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