Boloco Joins Boston Cage-Free Egg Trend

Boston-based Boloco is now exclusively serving cage-free eggs in the company's 13 restaurants in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Boloco joins a number of other Boston-area institutions in helping prevent the confinement of hens in battery cages.

The Humane Society of the United States praised the company's elimination of eggs from caged hens. The chain uses 318,000 eggs' worth of liquid eggs each year.

Boloco President and COO Mike Harder states, "Caging hens is stressful on the bird in many ways physically. Add in the lack of basic respect of animal dignity, and it is easy to see why we believe ending the use of eggs from caged hens is the right thing to do."

"It's great that so many Boston-area companies are joining the national movement away from one of the worst factory farming abuses," comments Paul Shapiro, senior director of The HSUS' factory farming campaign. "The Humane Society of the United States commends Boloco for ending its use of eggs from caged hens, which is a positive example for other companies."

Canyon Ranch's resort in Lenox, Mass., uses only cage-free eggs. Newton, Mass.-based Finagle A Bagel uses cage-free eggs in all its 20 Boston-area locations. Eighteen Massachusetts schools including Harvard, Cambridge, Tufts, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Lesley and Clark join more than 160 others across the country in enacting cage-free egg policies.

And the Cambridge City Council passed a resolution condemning battery cages and encouraging its residents not to purchase eggs from caged hens.

Facts

• U.S. factory farms confine nearly 280 million hens in barren battery cages that are so small, the birds can't even spread their wings. Each bird has less space than a single sheet of paper on which to live.
• There is a snowballing national movement against battery cages. Burger King is beginning to use cage-free eggs. Wolfgang Puck is ending his use of cage eggs. Several grocery chains, including Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural Marketplace, have stopped selling cage eggs. Companies such as AOL and Google have ended the use of cage eggs in their employee cafeterias.
• While cage-free does not mean cruelty-free, cage-free hens generally have 250-300 percent more space per bird and are able to engage in more of their natural behaviors than are caged hens. Cage free hens may not be able to go outside, but they are able to walk, spread their wings, and lay their eggs in nests—all behaviors permanently denied to hens confined in battery cages.

Timeline

• August 2007—West Palm Beach, Fla. becomes the seventh city to unanimously pass a bill condemning battery cages and encouraging egg consumers not to purchase cage eggs.
• March 2007—Burger King announces that it has started phasing in the use of cage-free eggs in its North American locations.
• March 2007—Celebrity chef Wolfgang Puck announces that he will no longer use eggs from caged hens.
• September 2006—Ben & Jerry's announces that it will phase out the use of eggs from caged hens in all its ice creams.
• May 2005—Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural Marketplace announce that they have ended sales of eggs from caged hens.
• November 2003—The Better Business Bureau rules that it is misleading to label eggs from battery-caged hens as "Animal Care Certified."

-30-

The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization—backed by 10 million Americans, or one of every 30. For more than a half-century, The HSUS has been fighting for the protection of all animals through advocacy, education, and hands-on programs. Celebrating animals and confronting cruelty—on the web at humanesociety.org.