Ben & Jerry’s and Battery Cages

HSUS
These chickens are confined in abusive battery cages at a factory farm.

Ben & Jerry's is a company known not only for its frozen desserts, but also for its claims of social responsibility. Is this so-called socially responsible company really serving up nothing more than "Chocolate Chip Cruelty Dough"?

After nearly a year of promises—both verbal and written—to The HSUS that it would end its support for battery cage factory farming, the company has done an about-face and chosen to continue to buy eggs—perhaps 20 to 30 million of them annually—from factory farms that confine egg-laying hens in tiny battery cages so small the birds can't even spread their wings. In fact, each one of the tens of thousands of caged hens used to provide eggs for Ben & Jerry's ice cream has less space for her entire life than a single sheet of paper.

In June 2006, The HSUS released shocking findings from its undercover investigation at a battery-cage egg factory farm. Despite being confronted with evidence of appalling conditions—live hens confined in cages with dead birds, hens trapped in cage wires, sick and injured hens, and hens dying from dehydration and starvation—Ben & Jerry's still continues to use eggs from caged hens in its ice creams sold in the United States.

With A Sprinkle of Hypocrisy

In addition to reneging on its pledges to The HSUS, Ben & Jerry's misrepresents its own position on factory farming. On its web site, the company criticizes what it calls "giant, industrial farming operations," and it ends one of its commercials with the tag line, "Ben & Jerry's: Join our fight for small family farms." Of course, consumers viewing the company's public declarations of social responsibility might have a hard time swallowing the fact that Ben & Jerry's is responsible for keeping tens of thousands of hens intensively confined in massive industrialized factory farms.

Even more amazing is that Ben & Jerry's refuses to use eggs from caged birds in any of its European ice cream, admitting in an annual report that "battery cage housing systems don't meet our best case scenario for animal welfare."

In a section of its web site devoted to "small-scale family farms," Ben & Jerry's claims that "Our commitment to small and medium sized family farms extends beyond the dairy industry and the state of Vermont...Our commitment to providing a market for these farmers whenever we can costs a bit more, but we think it's worth it."

"The eggs bought by Ben & Jerry's—perhaps as many as 30 million a year—are produced from hens crammed into tiny wire cages," said Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The HSUS. "The fact is, there is a cage-free alternative that is available now, and Ben & Jerry's has no excuses for offering up a pint of pain to tens of thousands of animals."

Why are battery cage eggs not appropriate for Ben & Jerry's European ice cream, but are fine for its U.S. ice cream? Why does Ben & Jerry's claim that it wants to support "small-scale family farmers" but actually supports one of the most abusive factory farming practices in existence? And why would Ben & Jerry's dish up a scoop of lies to The HSUS for months on end?

See the Video

Battery-Cage Eggs

Related Links

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