Rotten Egg Cartel Kills Hens to Fix Prices, Pays $28 Million to Settle Suit
Animal Rights Article from All-Creatures.org

From Mercy for Animals (MFA)
August 2013

Sadly, abusing animals and consumers is just business as usual for the egg industry.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Cal-Maine Foods, the largest egg producer in the country, will pay $28 million to settle federal antitrust claims. The "egg cartel" is accused of conspiring to increase egg prices by killing off young chicks and egg-laying hens in order to artificially reduce egg supply.

This is not the first time Cal-Maine has been in trouble. In 2010, a shocking undercover investigation exposed rampant animal abuse at one of the company's battery-cage egg facilities. The investigation revealed overcrowded hens suffering from broken legs and other injuries, birds trapped in cage wire unable to reach food or water, and chicken corpses left to rot in cages with hens still producing eggs for human consumption.

That same year, Cal-Maine recalled 288,000 eggs that it had purchased from supplier Ohio Fresh Eggs after a test showed deadly salmonella at the facility. An investigation by Mercy For Animals in 2004 exposed the 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.

Sadly, abusing animals and consumers is just business as usual for the egg industry. The good news is that simply leaving eggs off your plate and replacing them with cruelty-free vegan alternatives is a powerful way to protect yourself and animals from being cheated by the rotten egg industry.

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