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| ©The HSUS |
| Egg-laying hens in a factory farm. |
In response to the rising use of intensive confinement facilities (factory farms) in Indian egg, meat and dairy production, Humane Society International has launched a campaign to improve the welfare of animals used for food in India. The vast majority of commercial meat, eggs and dairy products come from factory farms that do not provide for many of the animals' most basic needs and that impose significant stress on the animals in pursuit of efficiency.
Campaign Against Battery-Cage Eggs
Rising incomes, fading taboos against non-vegetarian food, and highly successful advertising campaigns by the National Egg Coordination Committee (Sunday ho ya Monday, roz khao ande) have contributed to rapid growth in India's increasingly concentrated egg industry. The industry boasts an annual growth rate of 8-10 percent, and India is now the fourth largest egg producing country in the world.
Commercial egg production, which accounts for more 80 percent of egg production in India, almost exclusively employs battery cages. Hens in battery cages spend their lives confined in small barren wire enclosures stacked several tiers high and extending down long rows. Each cage is so small that the birds lack the ability to stretch their wings, turn around, or engage in many of their natural behaviors. These crowded, stressful, and unsanitary conditions are ripe for the development and spread of diseases, including avian influenza (bird flu).
HSI is reaching out to egg producers in India, asking them to transition away from the use of battery cages in their facilities. HSI is also asking supermarkets, restaurant chains, and others in India's food retail sector to stop purchasing eggs produced by hens in battery cages.
Food Retail Industry and Animal Welfare Standards
The structure of India's food industry is changing, and the numbers of supermarket and restaurant chains in the country are on the rise. The emerging food retail chains are in a unique position to set industry standards with regards to animal welfare. HSI is asking these companies to publicly adopt and implement meaningful animal welfare standards as they develop their supply chains for animal products.
For more information about the campaign, contact cmirle@hsi.org.
