JoPa and JoPa Café Put the Chicken Before the Egg

WASHINGTON – Today, The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization, is commending Portland's JoPa restaurant and Hillsboro's JoPa Café for eliminating the sale of eggs from hens confined in abusive battery cages. Together, the businesses use 28,000 eggs each year.

"It is pretty simple - we at JoPa feel that it is important, as a restaurant serving hundreds of meals, to be a responsible part of a humane and sustainable food chain," states Ginger Rapport, owner of both JoPa and JoPa Café.

These businesses join a growing number of schools and companies across the country that are moving away from eggs from caged hens. Oregon schools such as Lewis and Clark College, University of Portland, Reed College, Willamette University, Marylhurst University and George Fox University join more than 100 others across the country in enacting policies to eliminate or greatly reduce their use of eggs from caged hens.

Major grocery chains such as Whole Foods Market and Wild Oats Natural Marketplace have also stopped selling cage eggs. Trader Joe's has converted its private line eggs to cage-free. Bon Appétit, a major food service company, is phasing out the use of cage eggs in all of its 400 cafés, and Ben & Jerry's is doing the same for its ice creams. Even companies such as AOL and Google have ended the use of cage eggs in their employee cafeterias.

"The Humane Society of the United States commends JoPa and JoPa Café for their leadership in helping prevent one of the worst factory farm abuses. We encourage other businesses to follow their example," stated Paul Shapiro, Factory Farming Campaign director for The HSUS.
 
U.S. factory farms confine nearly 300 million hens in barren, wire battery cages that are so small, the birds can't spread their wings, walk, or perform many other important behaviors, such as nesting, foraging, perching and dust bathing. Each bird has less space than a single sheet of paper on which to live, leading to extremely high levels of stress and frustration.

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The Humane Society of the United States is the nation's largest animal protection organization with nearly 10 million members and constituents. The HSUS is a mainstream voice for animals, with active programs in companion animals, disaster preparedness and response, wildlife and habitat protection, marine mammals, animals in research, equine protection, and farm animal welfare. The HSUS protects all animals through education, investigation, litigation, legislation, advocacy and field work. The nonprofit organization is based in Washington and has field representatives and offices across the country.