Trader Joe's Embroiled In Egg Farming Dispute

Nov. 4 (KGO) -- The Humane Society of the United States has launched a campaign against Trader Joe's because the grocery store chain refuses to stop selling eggs produced in what are called "battery cages." It's a common farming system in which a hen's confined to a space the size of a sheet of paper for its entire life.

The I-Team went to the Trader Joe's in Emeryville this week and bought a dozen of the store's ranch fresh eggs. We took the code stamped on the carton and plugged it into a government Web site. It gave us the farm that produces Trader Joe's brand name eggs.

Gemperle has offices in the Central Valley town of Turlock and 10 massive barns in nearby Hilmar that house more than one-and-a-half million hens. The company wouldn't let us inside the barns, but this activist has been going to the farm on and off for the past year  by herself, late at night.

Undercover Activist: "I just felt like there was animal cruelty going on and I had to do something about it."

She took a picture of a newspaper placed next to the hens to document her last trip  the weekend of September 9th. Up to eight hens fill a single cage. It's such a tight fit, their beaks have to be clipped so they won't cannibalize each other. The rows of cages extending the length of the barn are stacked five high. And, the system to channel waste into manure pits below the cages is not all that efficient.

Undercover Activist: "So, the chickens on the bottom are getting pooped on by the ones above, so the ones on the bottom layers are literally caked in poop."

The hens have no chance to do what comes naturally& foraging, dust bathing, just spreading their wings  as seen with these former egg hens at a sanctuary in New York. The undercover tape also shows the casualties that are inevitable with such a large battery cage operation  birds stuck in cages, paralyzed, ones that have fallen through the floor into the manure pit. The activist took dozens of injured birds and rehabilitated them. She admits it's a crime to trespass and take chickens.

Undercover Activist: "If I can do anything to stop just a little bit of animal suffering, it would be worth it to have to deal with law enforcement."

We drove the two hours here to Turlock to show this undercover tape to the farm's owner, Steve Gemperle. We wanted to verify the authenticity of the tape and get his comments on the issue.

But Gemperle refused to be interviewed, as did officials from the United Egg Producers, the industry's trade group; the Pacific Egg and Poultry Association; U.C. Davis poultry expert Dr. Francine Bradley; even Trader Joe's. It's an especially sensitive issue because 95-percent of the eggs produced in this country come from battery cage operations just like this.

Demonstrator: "This piece of paper right here, the size of this piece of paper is the amount of space these chickens have for their entire lives."

Trader Joe's is feeling the heat from the Humane Society campaign. Activists have been protesting outside stores, such as this one in San Francisco. And, they took out a full page ad last month in the Los Angeles Times titled, "Why won't Trader Joe's give an inch?"

Paul Shapiro, HSUS: "Most people, if they knew how abused these birds actually are would be appalled and they would never buy these eggs, they would leave battery cage eggs out of their shopping carts."

Trader Joe's has also sold cage-free eggs since 1993, but the Humane Society is pressuring the company to take the lead of its competitor Whole Foods and stop selling any eggs from battery cages.

Justin Jackson, Whole Foods: "And I think overall, when you have a cage free egg, you're going to have a better egg, you're going to have a better product, the chickens are treated better, you're going to have a better tasting product. I think our customers will be hard-pressed not to appreciate that."

Justin Jackson says cage free eggs are more expensive, but not enough to spark complaints from customers. And now, Bon Appetit Management is taking action. The company runs 200 cafeterias at colleges and companies across the country, such as Oracle. Starting tomorrow, they are phasing out the use of eggs from battery cages, and Bon Appetit chefs use eight million eggs a year.

Maisie Ganzler, Bon Appetit Management: "We strongly believe that if we take a leadership position that other restaurant companies, other grocery stores will follow."

But Trader Joe's is refusing. In letters to the Humane Society, the company's chairman and CEO Dan Bane writes, "We receive many requests & to tackle a myriad of social, economic, political, humane and environmental issues. We elect not to partner with any one group or organization." "Our customers are smart, and we give them the opportunity to make their own decisions." Trader Joe's will continue to receive pressure from people like the undercover activist.

Undercover Activist: "Behind every carton of battery eggs, there's just a tremendous amount of animal suffering, and it doesn't have to be that way."

She took a global positioning satellite reading during her last late-night visit. We plugged the numbers into a Web site. That gave us an aerial photograph of the farm  it confirms the activist was there at Gemperle.

You can do what the I-Team did, and trace the origin of the eggs you buy in any store. Just take the number stamped on the carton and plug it into that government Web site.

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