tagged w/ Egg Farms
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ABC News Wins Genesis Award for Egg Farm Investigation
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PHOTO: Ross investigative unit producer Cindy Galli (at microphone) accepts a Genesis Award March 24, 2012, for a "20/20" report on alleged cruelty at egg farms.
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Investigation: Inside Egg 'Factory Farm'
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WATCH the "20/20" report on alleged cruelty at egg farms - click on link
PHOTO: Ross investigative unit producer Cindy Galli (at microphone) accepts a Genesis Award March 24, 2012, for a "20/20" report on alleged cruelty at egg farms.
Courtesy HSUS
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By RANDY KREIDER
March 26, 2012
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Ross unit producer Cindy Galli accepted a Genesis Award Saturday night for an undercover expose of alleged animal abuse at the egg farms that once supplied half the nation's McDonald's restaurants -- an investigation that might now be impossible to replicate because of a batch of new state laws that "gag" undercover reporters.
"We can give these stories an audience on ABC News," said Galli, accepting the award from the Humane Society of the United States for a "20/20" report on Iowa-based Sparboe Farms. "That's easy compared to what groups like the Humane Society and Mercy for Animals do. They do the tough work of exposing inhumane treatment of animals every day."
The "20/20" report used hidden-camera footage gathered by a Mercy for Animals activist working undercover at Sparboe Farms facilities in several states, including Iowa. The footage, shot during the summer of 2011, appears to show unsanitary conditions and repeated acts of animal cruelty. After being shown the video, as well as learning of an FDA warning letter sent to Sparboe regarding unsanitary conditions, McDonald's and Target ended their relationship with Sparboe. Sparboe had supplied eggs to all McDonald's restaurants west of the Mississippi River.
Legislators in a number of agricultural states, however, have responded to animal abuse exposes by proposing new laws that would make it difficult for an undercover reporter to get a job at a farm. The bills do not ban hidden camera footage, but they do make it a crime for a job applicant to lie on an employment application when asked if he or she is a member of a specific group. The governor of Iowa -- where much of the Sparboe footage was shot -- signed the country's first so-called "ag gag" bill into law earlier this month. On Friday Utah became the second state to adopt an ag gag law. Indiana, Missouri, New York, Nebraska, Illinois and Tennessee are also considering legislation.
"If Mercy for Animals had tried to go undercover today," said Galli after the Genesis ceremony, "they most likely would not have been successful. We would not have been given the video, and McDonald's would not have been made aware and pulled their contract."
Mercy for Animals, which has shot undercover footage at chicken, turkey, pig and dairy farms around the country, has joined with 26 other groups, including the ASPCA and the Humane Society of the U.S., to oppose the ag gag laws. A statement from the coalition called the bills "a wholesale assault on many fundamental values" and a threat to health, safety and freedom of the press.
"This flawed and misdirected legislation," said Nathan Runkle, executive director of Mercy for Animals, "could set a dangerous precedent nationwide by throwing shut the doors to industrial factory farms and allowing animal abuse, environmental violations, and food contamination issues to flourish undetected, unchallenged, and unaddressed."
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2012 Genesis Award Winners
The Genesis Awards have been bestowed annually for the past 26 years by the Humane Society of the United States. Other winners of 2012 Genesis Awards, presented at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, California on Saturday night, include "The Colbert Report," the film "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," "The Ellen DeGeneres Show," "Hawaii Five-0," "NBC Nightly News" and "Today." Carrie Inaba, a judge on the ABC show "Dancing with the Stars," hosted the ceremony. The awards show will air on the Animal Planet network in May.
"We paid tribute to an amazing array of works that address animal protection concerns, but the real winners of The HSUS's 26th Genesis Awards are the animals themselves, who rely on these invaluable voices to speak for them," says Beverly Kaskey, senior director of The HSUS's Hollywood Outreach program and executive producer of the annual Genesis Awards.
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Critic Calls 'Battery Cages' Cruel Watch Video
McDonald's Drops Large McMuffin Egg Supplier Watch Video - Click on above link to view videos
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NPR Morning Edition...
Livestock Farms Could Be Off Limits To Photos
Click on Link to Listen to the Story by Kathleen Masterson
April 13, 2011
Animal rights activists have secretly filmed the inner workings of livestock farms, which has led to some bad press for the industry. Bills introduced in Florida and Iowa would make photographing animal operations without the owner's permission a felony. Supporters say that would help prevent activists from fraudulently being hired. Opponents argue the bills would prevent current employees from reporting abuse.
Transcript...
STEVE INSKEEP, host:
In Iowa and in Florida, big livestock operations are supporting bills that would forbid animal rights activists from going undercover to take photos and document conditions at big farms. Activists are asking what the industry has to hide. From Iowa Harvest Public Media's Kathleen Masterson reports.
KATHLEEN MASTERSON: If livestock industry groups get their way what happened at this farm would be considered a crime. Here in central Iowa amid an expanse of cornfields, Rose Acre Farms has six huge hen houses, each the length of a football field.
Last February, an undercover activist from the Human Society got a job here. He wanted to get inside and film the workings of the facility that houses about a million chickens. He stayed here only two weeks.
Then three months later, the Human Society held a news conference and splashed a video on the Web. It shows scenes filmed at Rose Acre Farms and another company's farm. The footage shows chickens living in cramped cages and some dead birds whose carcasses were left so long they'd been mummified.
Unidentified Woman: The crews just shoving them in the cages, sometimes they'll get their legs slammed in the door or their wings.
MASTERSON: The pending Iowa law would make filming this video without the owner's permission and the mere possession of it a criminal offense, punishable by up to five years in jail.
At Rose Acres, farm manager Andrew Kaldenberg says while the video did show some footage of their farm, the abuses didn't occur there. The media were invited out to their barn within hours of the video being released.
Mr. ANDREW KALDENBERG (Manager, Rose Acres): We welcome reporters, you know, what have we got to hide? If we're not treating our animals right, they ain't going to produce. They're not going to produce, we're out of business.
MASTERSON: So I asked him to show me around the hen houses.
Mr. KALDENBERG: In this house we are ten rows wide, five tier high. That means that we have five cages stacked on top of each other.
MASTERSON: Kaldenberg says the activists' motives are to promote an agenda which is vehemently against how the industry produces food, with thousands of birds living in row after row of small cages.
Rose Acre Farms and other large chicken, hog and cattle organizations say the pending Iowa legislation is being mischaracterized. They say it isn't about stopping whistleblowers from reporting abuse, but argue it's about keeping people who misrepresent their true purpose from getting hired.
Kevin Vinchattle is the executive director of the Iowa Egg Council.
Mr. KEVIN VINCHATTLE (Executive Director, Iowa Egg Council): People are trying to characterize the livestock folks as trying to hide things. We're not. We don't want any animal to be abused. And if it's truly a case where a person thinks that abuse is occurring, that needs to be reported immediately, not six weeks done the road or months later in a video released for PR efforts to raise money for an organization.
MASTERSON: But a whole section of the Iowa bill explicitly bans photography.
There's a similar bill under debate in Florida. Kansas and Montana already have laws that ban taking secret photos of an animal facility if the intent is to damage the owner. And other states across the country are also considering similar legislation.
Humane Society's Paul Shapiro says the bills are an attempt to shield America's food production system from public scrutiny. He says their exposes have been done legally and resulted in convictions for animal cruelty, as well as meat recalls over food safety problems. Without undercover videos, activists say their claims wouldn't be taken seriously.
In Iowa, State Senator Matt McCoy, a Democrat from Des Moines, said a bill like this would set a dangerous precedent. He argues the multibillion dollar livestock industry wants to operate with less oversight.
State Senator MATT MCCOY (Democrat, Iowa): They view animal welfare groups and individuals that take undercover video and release it to the public as a threat to their livelihood.
MASTERSON: Neither side in this fight appears willing to budge yet on a key sticking point, whether secretly photographing farm animals should be considering a criminal act.
For NPR News, I'm Kathleen Masterson in Ames, Iowa.
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Livestock Farms Could Be Off Limits To Photos
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Humane Society: Undercover video shows alleged abuse at egg farm
From Eric Fiegel, CNN Senior Producer
November 17, 2010 7:48 p.m. EST
The Humane Society says its undercover video shows a dead bird as eggs roll by inches away on a conveyer belt.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* The Humane Society releases a video it says shows animal abuse at an egg farm
* The undercover video was shot at a Texas farm
* The company, Cal-Maine, says it has been a leader in animal welfare
* Cal-Maine is the largest egg producer in the United States
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Washington (CNN) -- A group that protects the welfare of animals has released an undercover video it claims shows animal abuse at a Texas farm operated by the largest egg producer in the United States.
The Humane Society of the United States says one of its investigators worked at the Cal-Maine farm in Waelder, Texas, for almost a month this fall and documented multiple abuses and food-safety violations.
The video shows dead birds, birds stuck in their cages, overcrowding and what appears to be hens covered in feces. At one point the video shows a dead bird as eggs roll by just inches away on a conveyer belt.
The short, edited video was shown at a news conference on Wednesday by the Humane Society's president and CEO, Wayne Pacelle. "Our latest farm animal investigation documents inhumane treatment of laying hens and conditions that threaten food safety," Pacelle said from the group's headquarters in Washington.
Pacell told reporters that Cal-Maine, based in Jackson, Mississippi, was unaware of the investigation and that the video was being made public for the first time. Pacell said he didn't know if the giant egg company had seen the video.
'Farm had eggs on top of corpses'
Cal-Maine responded to the allegations with a statement on its website.
"Cal-Maine Foods has been a leader in accepting and implementing animal welfare measures. All of the Company's facilities are operated in full compliance with existing environmental, health and safety laws and regulations and permits. Each employee involved in the care and handling of our hens is required to review, sign and comply with our Company code of conduct regarding the ethical treatment of hens which requires employees to report any possible violations," the statement said.
The egg industry has taken a beating of late. Just this summer over half a billion eggs were recalled after a salmonella outbreak was traced to an Iowa farm.
Cal-Maine is no stranger to recalls. It recalled 288,000 eggs earlier this month when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration informed the company that eggs from one of its Ohio plants tested positive for Salmonella enteritidis. Salmonella, which is generally contracted from contaminated poultry, meat, eggs, or water, affects the intestinal tract.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Food Safety and Inspection Service, chickens can pass the bacteria to eggs because the eggs leave hens through the same passageway as feces. Alternatively, bacteria in the hen's ovary or oviduct can get to the egg before the shell forms around it, FSIS said.
Cal-Maine says it sold over 778 million eggs in 2009, which represents 18 percent of the United States market. According to the companies website, "Cal-Maine has an industry-leading record in food safety with all of its 35 processing plants independently verified as reaching the highest level of safety by the Safe Quality Food Institute."
Over 70 billion eggs are produced a year in the United States, and the Humane Society would like to see the large egg farms change their ways
"Time and again, we've found that these massive facilities caging hundreds of thousands of animals do not properly care for the birds ... It's time for the egg industry to embrace cage-free housing systems and move away from battery cage confinement methods," Pacelle said. Battery cage systems allow many birds to be housed in one facility but critics claim it's dangerous and cruel to the animals.
The Humane Society would like to see cage-free housing but so far only 5 percent of eggs produced in the U.S. use this method, according to Pacelle.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration implemented new rules in July for large egg producers. These mandates include cleaning poultry houses that test positive for salmonella, rodent control, refrigeration of eggs during storage and transportation and buying chicks and young hens only from suppliers who monitor for Salmonella bacteria.
The USDA says that as many as 79,000 illnesses and 30 deaths due to consumption of eggs contaminated with the bacterium Salmonella enteritidis may be avoided each year with these new measures in place.Humane Society: Undercover video shows alleged abuse at egg farm
From Eric Fiegel,... more
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FDA reports numerous violations at egg farms
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 30, 2010 7:08 p.m. EDT
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Inspection reports released by the FDA noted numerous violations at nine egg-producing Iowa farms.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* Food safety advocacy group calls findings "stomach churning"
* Hillandale, Wright County Egg say some of the problems have been fixed
* Inspections find numerous violations at Iowa egg farms, FDA says
* Inspection reports do not outline compliance or enforcement actions
(CNN) -- Rodents, piles of manure, uncaged birds and flies too numerous to count were found by investigators at Iowa farms at the heart of the recall of more than half a billion eggs, the Food and Drug Administration reported Monday.
Inspection reports released by the FDA noted numerous violations at six farms operated by Wright County Egg and Quality Egg, which are owned by the same family, and three Hillandale Farms locations.
The inspections -- conducted in August, after new egg safety rules went into effect -- were launched in response to the nationwide outbreaks of salmonella that have sickened an estimated 1,470 people, according to the FDA.
Neither company fully adhered to their Salmonella enteritidis prevention plans, the inspectors said.
Federal investigators found salmonella bacteria in chicken feed and in barn and walkway areas at some of the farms, officials said last week.
Monday, health officials detailed plans to launch an inspection program of these and other facilities in the coming weeks.
On a conference call Monday, FDA officials said they had also found salmonella in water used to wash eggs at a Hillandale facility. They said it is not clear whether the eggs were washed in contaminated water or if the water was sullied by the eggs.
"Regarding the positive finding in the egg wash water, it is important to note that after washing, all the eggs are rinsed with water containing chlorine as an additional sanitation step," said Hillandale spokeswoman Julie DeYoung.
At some Wright County Egg facilities, federal inspectors found chicken manure in piles up to eight feet high. In other spots, mounds of manure prevented doors from closing, allowing rodents and other animals to possibly come inside, FDA inspectors said. "The uncaged birds were using the manure [pile] ... to access the egg-laying area."
The report said Quality Egg and Wright County Egg workers did not always wear protective clothing, that birds were in storage and milling facilities, and feed bins had rusted holes and gaps. Inspectors also found maggots, and in some areas, "live and dead flies were too numerous to count."
Inspections at three Hillandale farms found -- among other things -- rodents and rodent holes, liquid manure leaking into a chicken house and uncaged chickens tracking manure from a manure pit into a caged henhouse, the inspectors said.
The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a food safety advocacy group, called the FDA findings "stomach churning."
FDA officials have said new egg safety rules, which took effect in mid-July after the outbreak began, will greatly reduce the possibility of a similar salmonella outbreak.
But the center said the companies didn't properly respond to the rules.
"Both companies involved had been on notice that they needed to meet requirements of the new egg-safety rule for over a year. Instead of finding companies that were ready to meet those requirements, FDA's inspections document companies with long-standing violations and apparently little intention to comply," the center said in a statement. "The decrepit conditions in these henhouses reflect the fact that companies know that FDA inspections are so rare -- even following the adoption of a new safety regulation -- that there is no urgency to fix their buildings and their operations to assure compliance with FDA statutes and regulations."
In a statement, Hillandale said it is committed to addressing all issues raised by the FDA in order to be in "full compliance as soon as possible," so that it can again ship shell eggs.
"We are in the process of responding to the FDA's written report to provide further explanation and clarification of what was observed. Several of the issues had been identified by the facilities prior to FDA's inspection and were already in the process of being addressed during the inspection period. Additionally, some of the issues were immediately corrected as soon as they were identified."
Wright County Egg said "the vast majority" of the concerns identified in the FDA report already have been addressed or are being addressed.
"We anticipate the expeditious completion of nearly all remaining items by mid-September," the company said in a statement.
"To demonstrate our continued commitment to running our farms in the most responsible manner and to ensuring the safety of the eggs we produce, our team has worked around the clock to address concerns that were raised verbally during FDA's inspection, with many of those being fixed as soon as they were identified. ...
"Members of our farm's management team actively participated alongside FDA officials during daily site inspections, and we have carefully documented details of those inspections."
An FDA spokeswoman on Monday said the inspection reports are "merely inspectional observations and [do] not outline any compliance or enforcement actions."
She said there would also be inspections at other companies to enforce the regulations.
"While we cannot disclose a list of inspection targets, ... some factors that we will take into consideration in compiling such a list include the size of the farm, the amount of eggs produced, history of violations and connection to previous outbreaks," said Siobhan DeLancey.
Federal officials pledged Monday to inspect all 600 facilities covered under the new egg rule within the next 15 months.
Hillandale's DeYoung said the company would not respond to specifics in the report. "We have put specific action plans in place to address each issue raised and are implementing those action plans," she said.
DeYoung also said she does not believe Hillandale is being singled out by federal inspectors.
CNN's Caleb Hellerman and Phil Gast contributed to this reportFDA reports numerous violations at egg farms
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 30, 2010... more
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CNN Wire Staff
August 20, 2010 5:51 p.m. EDT
HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: Company executive entered animal cruelty settlement in Maine
* Another Iowa egg company recalled its eggs Friday due to salmonella concerns
* The CDC estimates hundreds of Americans have been sickened by contaminated eggs
* Iowa's Wright County Egg has recalled 380 million eggs
The Egg Safety Center has a complete list of recalled eggs, their expiration dates, and brands.
PART ONE…
(CNN) -- The number of eggs recalled in a nationwide salmonella scare is growing.
Another Iowa egg producer, Hillandale Farms of Iowa, is voluntarily recalling shell eggs distributed to stores and companies that service, or are located in, 14 states, the Egg Safety Center website said Friday.
The eggs were distributed under the Hillandale Farms, Sunny Farms, and Sunny Meadow brand names in six-egg cartons, dozen-egg cartons, 18-egg cartons, 30-egg packages, and five-dozen-egg cases, the website said.
Loose eggs, which could be repackaged by customers, were packaged under the Wholesome Farms and West Creek brands in 15- and 30-dozen tray packs, according to the Egg Safety Center.
The eggs affected by this recall either have plant number P1860 with date codes ranging from 099 to 230, or plant number P1663 and date codes ranging from 137 to 230, the website said.
On its website, Hillandale Farms says it is "directly involved in every aspect of egg production and distribution ... from the farm to the customer's forklift."
An Egg Safety Center spokeswoman told CNN the center is trying to determine how many more eggs were being recalled, and hoped to have that number later Friday.
The salmonella outbreak that has led to the recall of at least 380 million eggs was preventable and will likely grow, according to federal officials.
The number of salmonella cases is expected to grow because infections after July 17 may not have been reported yet due to a two- to three-week lag between when a person becomes sick and when the case gets reported in the system, the CDC said.
The salmonella outbreak prompted Wright County Egg of Galt, Iowa, which began recalling eggs last week, to increase its recall to 380 million eggs on Wednesday.
"We would certainly characterize this as one of the largest shell egg recalls in recent history," Sherri McGarry of the Food and Drug Administration said in a conference call Thursday.
On July 9, the FDA announced it had new safety rules for large-scale egg producers, but that came after the salmonella outbreak apparently began.
"The outbreak could have been prevented." McGarry said. "The egg safety rule is in a phase-in approach, but there are measures that would have been in place that could have prevented this if it [had] been placed earlier than in July."
The FDA's new rules cover refrigeration of stored and transported eggs, pasteurization, rodent control, cleanliness and they require a written Salmonella enteritidis prevention plan. The agency said "implementing the preventive measures would reduce the number of Salmonella enteritidis infections from eggs by nearly 60 percent."
Animal welfare groups have criticized conditions of farms operated by Wright County Egg, including the Maine Contract Farming facility in Turner, Maine.
Mercy for Animals, a nonprofit animal welfare group, conducted an undercover video investigation of the farm in 2009, and forwarded its findings to Maine animal welfare officials.
Jack DeCoster, who leads Wright County Egg, in June pleaded guilty to 10 civil counts of animal cruelty over his company's treatment of its chickens, said Dr. Donald E. Hoenig, state veterinarian. DeCoster and his company agreed to a $25,000 fine and made a $100,000 payment to reimburse the state for future monitoring of the facility.
Allegations included too many birds in case, injured chickens not being treated, dead animals not being promptly removed from cages and improper euthanization, Hoenig told CNN.
"Since then, the company ... has followed all of our requirements," he said.
"It's no surprise that these birds that are crammed together, basically defecating on top of other birds," said Dan Hauff, director of investigations for Mercy for Animals. "It's no surprise that this is the outcome, this type of outbreak."
CONTINUED…CNN Wire Staff
August 20, 2010 5:51 p.m. EDT
HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: Company... more
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Chilling undercover footage recorded during a new Mercy For Animals investigation exposes dairy farm workers sadistically abusing cows and young calves.
Captured on hidden camera, the shocking scenes of abuse reveal a culture of cruelty at Conklin Dairy Farms in Plain City, Ohio.
During a four-week investigation between April and May, MFA's (Mercy for Animals) investigator documented farm workers:
* Violently punching young calves in the face, body slamming them to the ground, and pulling and throwing them by their ears
* Routinely using pitchforks to stab cows in the face, legs and stomach
* Kicking "downed" cows (those too injured to stand) in the face and neck – abuse carried out and encouraged by the farm's owner
* Maliciously beating restrained cows in the face with crowbars – some attacks involving over 40 blows to the head
* Twisting cows' tails until the bones snapped
* Punching cows' udders
* Bragging about stabbing, dragging, shooting, breaking bones, and beating cows and calves to death
After viewing the footage, Dr. Bernard Rollin, distinguished professor of animal science at Colorado State University, stated: "This is probably the most gratuitous, sustained, sadistic animal abuse I have ever seen. The video depicts calculated, deliberate cruelty, based not on momentary rage but on taking pleasure through causing pain to cows and calves who are defenseless."
Immediately upon completion of the investigation, Mercy For Animals contacted the City Prosecutor's Office of Marysville regarding the ongoing pattern of abuse at Conklin Dairy Farms. MFA is pushing for employees of the facility to be criminally prosecuted for violating Ohio's animal cruelty laws.
The deplorable conditions uncovered at Conklin Dairy Farms highlight the reality that animal agriculture is incapable of self-regulation and that meaningful federal and state laws must be implemented and strengthened to prevent egregious cruelty to farmed animals.
Although many of the abuses documented at Conklin Dairy Farms are sadistic in nature, numerous MFA undercover investigations at dairy farms, pig farms, egg farms, hatcheries and slaughterhouses have revealed that violence and abuse to farmed animals – whether malicious or institutionalized – runs rampant nationwide.
Compassionate consumers can end their direct financial support of farmed animal abuse by rejecting dairy, and other animal products, and adopting a vegan diet.Chilling undercover footage recorded during a new Mercy For Animals investigation... more
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