McDonald's Orders Improvements in Treatment of Laying Hens

By Philip Brasher The Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) - McDonald's Corp. wants to make life easier for the chickens that supply its eggs and is ordering farmers to give the hens more space and stop the practice of withholding food and water to increase egg production.

Under the new rules, which were distributed to the fast-food restaurant chain's 27 suppliers Tuesday, caged hens must have 72 square inches of space, compared to about 50 square inches now. With the larger space, all the hens should be able to lie down at once.

The standards were recommended to the company by a panel of scientific advisers that McDonald's formed to address concerns about the way food animals are being treated, said Robert Langert, senior director of public and community affairs for McDonald's.

"This is our pathway to be a leader on this issue," Langert said.

The European Union already bans the practice of "forced molting," which involves removing food and water from hens for 5 days to two weeks. It's been linked to an increased incidence of harmful salmonella bacteria in eggs.

McDonald's also wants to phase out the practice of trimming the beaks of hens, which is done to prevent them from injuring each other.

A spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Bruce Friedrich, praised the new egg rules.

"It's the bare minimum of bare minimums that you refuse to starve and dehydrate animals to death," he said.

Over the past two years, McDonald's also has required beef and pork processors to improve their handling of livestock prior to slaughter. McDonald's, which has long been targeted by animal rights activists, conducts regular audits of the packing plants to determine whether the animals are being treated humanely and will suspend purchases from slaughterhouses that don't meet the company's standards.

"This has been a natural evolution from our animal welfare program," Langert said of the egg rules.

McDonald's gave its suppliers until the first quarter of next year to stop forced molting and until the end of the year to comply with the space requirement.

-- Scrambled Eggs (Are@happy.eggs), August 23, 2000

Answers

I get Free Range eggs from Safeway... you can tell if they're truly free range or not by how orange their yolks are. Those pale yellow yolks are what happen to the egg when the chicken is releasing stress hormones by the bucketful.

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), August 23, 2000.

McDonalds (and other fast food places to be fair) their egg products always tasted rather artifical to me...is that how an egg tastes when the chicken was stressed? It's hard to discribe, but they're rubbery...tasteless...dunno. I don't think I've ever tasted a "really' fresh egg...but I know that what I get at fast food joints ain't it.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), August 23, 2000.

Yup, Tricia is right. The eggs at the farm from my folk's chickens have a definite orangey yolk and if you boil one a day or so old the shell won't peel off very easily. Eggshells only peel off a hard-boiled egg if the egg has been aged. Yeah, the farm eggs taste a whole lot better than the grocery store eggs.... especially in eggnog!

-- (sis@home.zzz), August 24, 2000.

Even some of the fancy restaurants use "processed eggs". The sliced eggs that you see at salad bars come in a long tube resembling a sausage that you put on a meat slicer to achieve the sliced effect.

Heck, even grilled steaks aren't necessarily grilled. The grill marks are already there, and the flavoring is sealed into the meat. All ya have to do is stick the frozen slab into a commercial microwave, add some broth, and presto!

Sometimes I wished that I never worked in restaurants while working through school. Maybe that's the reason I pack my lunch most of the time and don't go out to dinner too often.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), August 24, 2000.

Good point, Tricia. I've always just assumed that pale yellow yolks were the way that Mother Nature made eggs.

-- Peter Errington (petere@ricochet.net), August 24, 2000.

Wow, stressed eggs. Interesting.

Tim, are you for real? That is so gross. And here I thought I was really getting a 'grilled' piece of meat. Anything else you wish to share that might be of interest?

thanks

-- carrie (tisI@nope.not), August 25, 2000.

Carrie...Tim's right..I think any of us who have ever worked in a McDonalds or Burger King in our teens avoid Fast Food places like the plague. I remember a vat of pickles sitting under a sink where dirty water leaked down onto them all day long. I have Horror stories galore.

Exception..Wendys..I worked there once for two months..and they were very very good with their food handling. It's the only fast food place I'll eat at. (although..who knows whos working at the one by me)

BTW..Two months was about the average length of employment for me anyplace as a teenager. Social life was sooo much more important than work at that age.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), August 25, 2000.

Layin' eggs ain't easy under the best of circumstances!

-- (try@it.sometime), August 25, 2000.

We used to have chickens and there is no doubt that free range hens produce tastier eggs than confined hens.

I don't know why some of these outfits think you have to cut off food and water (?) to cause a molt. A change in light and temp will accomplish the same thing.

Free range hens get to eat the things they prefer naturally, and will normally pick a balanced diet, which includes a variety of worms and insects - not normal fare for the caged layer. Got crickets? Got grasshoppers? Get Leghorns.

Gene.

-- gene (ekbaker@essex1.com), August 26, 2000.

Ewww, I don't want to eat an egg from a chicken who ate a cricket.. Yuckie! ;-)

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), August 26, 2000.

Sure, Carrie, I'll bite ;-) Here's another thing for y'all to digest...

Ever grab a slice of pizza from the box and the cheese has that stringy effect? There's wax in the cheese, even in the high-end brands.

-- Tim (pixmo@pixelquest.com), August 29, 2000.

EAT their eggs! Wait 'til the girls hear that one. They're free-range alright, they come in the house to enquire about the menu for the day. EAT their eggs...cannibals!

-- helen (home@the.farm), August 29, 2000.

eeewww Tim, you convinced me...I order pizza Alot, w/extra cheese, yuck.

-- carrie (TisI@nope.not), August 30, 2000.

Concerned about what Tim posted about cheese? Check out: www.notmilk.com and read about the real ingredients in your milk.

What with BSE, CJD and BST, we are just about vegans....... *sigh* We still go have prime rib and enjoy the crab feeds from time to time, though.....just not very often......

-- (sis@home.zzz), August 30, 2000.

uh, um, I dont think I wanna know whats 'really' in my milk, but, um thanks anyhow.

-- carrie (TisI@not.eww), September 01, 2000.

Here's some happy aracuna hens....

http://albums.photopoint.com/j/View?u=16089&a=6486288&p=21700614&Seque nce=2

-- (sis@home.zzz), September 06, 2000.

Let's try this again:

-- (sis@trying again.zzz), September 06, 2000.

Sis, that's a Washington (state of) bird, right? So are it's feet webbed? And if they are, how do you tell them from the ducks? ;-)

-- Tricia the Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), September 06, 2000.

Tricia, those are hens down in eedaho. They live in the desert.... and hunt and peck under fruit trees......They are basically pets who lay eggs for breakfast..... mmmmm those free range eggs......mmmmmmm

-- (sis@home.zzz), September 07, 2000.

Forgive a city girls stupid question, but..how can you tell an eating egg from a baby chicken egg? Is it just a matter of incubating it? Like..take the egg and eat it, or leave it there and let it get warm and it will grow? Or does it have something to do with Roosters? :-) I really don't know.

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.net), September 07, 2000.

Kritter, if you have a rooster with your hens, then the eggs are fertilized, capable of making little chicks, if the hens are allowed to sit on them. If you have no roosters, then they won't be fertilized.

All the eggs that are produced on my folks' place are fertilzed eggs, but you can't tell that they are, when you crack one into the pan to fry. I think that they have to be incubated for 3 weeks for them to become chicks.

The aracuna eggs look like easter eggs, with various blue, green and olive colored eggs.

-- (sis@home.zzz), September 07, 2000.

Most of the eggs used in supermarkets and restaurants are non-free range, most city people have to go through their lives without tasting proper nice free range eggs, even the eggs in supermarkets are usally from chickens just kept in a yard with no grass. The best way to help free range farmers so you can eat more free range eggs is to buy eggs from farm shops buy the gate and eat from pubs in the country, or even keep a few hens yourself! They are not very hard to keep and unlike you may of heard, intelligent and rewarding animals, my first proper pet was a hen and she is still alive at 8!!

-- claire bath (bloodofthedragons@hotmail.com), August 23, 2002.

Hi Claire!

-- Robert A. Cook, PE (racookpe@earthlink.net), August 25, 2002.

Blood of the dragons? Sounds interesting. Care to elaborate?

-- Gayla (privacy@please.com), August 25, 2002.

Would those dragons be from Pern, Claire?

-- Tricia teh Canuck (jayles@telusplanet.net), August 25, 2002.

Hehe..you people need to start gaming more :-)

I know what it is! /snicker!

-- kritter (kritter@adelphia.old), August 26, 2002.