Wegmans receives 2,100 protest eggs
Democrat & Chronicle, 4/18/06

Local activists delivered 2,100 plastic eggs to Wegmans Food Markets Inc.'s corporate headquarters on Brooks Avenue on Monday. Each egg contained the name of a shopper who opposes Wegmans egg farming practices.

Volunteers, including members of the University of Rochester vegetarian organization UR-Veg, collected signatures and comments outside Wegmans stores nationwide, as well as online, since October 2005. The campaign is part of an ongoing effort to force Wegmans to stop using battery cages, which critics say are cruel, at its 750,000-chicken farm in Wolcott, Wayne County.

Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale said the company typically answers all consumer communication, and will likely respond to local people who submitted their concerns.

How responses would be made and whether the company will respond to those from states and countries where Wegmans does not have stores has not been decided, she said.

The petitions were delivered by cart.

Wegmans Receives Egg Petitions
by Kate Welshofer
Photo by Andrew Heinze
Published Apr 17, 2006
Rochester RNews

Wegmans got a special delivery from some activists Monday.

Rochester based Compassionate Consumers and Ur-Veg delivered 2,000 plastic eggs to Wegmans corporate headquarters. A signed petition, asking Wegmans to change the way it runs its egg farm, was inside each egg.

“Wegmans has a reputation for being a forward-thinking, progressive company, but we think one area where they don't live up to that reputation is when it comes to animal welfare and in particular their egg farm in Wolcott, New York,” said Hoss Firoozina

Wegmans confirmed it received the petitions. Spokesperson Jo Natale said the company is always interested in hearing how customers feel. Wegmans maintains it does not mistreat its animals.

The company posted answers to questions about its egg farm on its website. Natale added Wegmans does offer consumers a choice. Eggs produced by cage-free hens are also available in its stores.

"Many stores have stopped selling battery cage eggs"

The Buffalo News
4/16/2006

The excellent April 9 News article about the inhumane conditions at Wegmans Egg Farm highlighted how much the company has to learn from the quickly changing food industry. Last year, the national grocery chains Wild Oats and Whole Foods stopped selling battery cage eggs like those from Wegmans. Trader Joe's, another national chain, changed its own brand of eggs to exclusively cage-free. These conscientious companies decided conventional egg production is simply too cruel to support. Battery cages are so confining hens cannot even spread their wings. Wegmans should join the trend and cut out these cruel cages.

Ryan Merkley

Campaign Coordinator

Compassionate Consumers

VIDEO: Maine Egg Farm Running Cage Free Chicken Coop
It may be the first project of its kind in the nation.

Burlington, VT Free Press

Outdoors calendar

Published: Thursday, April 13, 2006

"WEGMAN'S CRUELTY," film, 7 p.m. Monday, Lafayette 108, UVM. Students for True Animal Rights show the movie on cruelty of factory farming in the egg industry. Free.
Tuesday

Know Thy Enemy Week #1:

Wegmans

The Veg Blog [click above to get to the post's links!]

April 03, 2006 @ 05:15 PM

This is the first entry of five in a week-long series I'm calling "Know Thy Enemy Week," which will feature quotes and perspectives of those that don't have the interests of animals in mind. By paying close attention to how corporations and anti-AR folks think, perhaps we can learn a little better how to deal with these attitudes and turn the "enemies" into allies.)

For our first entry, I figured I'd feature the hot story that just won't go away. I'm sure most Veg Blog readers have seen the excellent footage gathered by Compassionate Consumers in 2004 inside a Wegmans egg farm. It's horrifying, as is pretty much all footage shot inside factory farm operations: hens living atop rotting corpses of their cagemates, many of them getting their beaks or legs caught in the cage's wire, and others dying a slow, painful death in the manure pit. Erik Marcus often says that every egg has 30 hours of cruelty attached to it, and when you see how millions of egg-laying hens live their lives before being shipped off for slaughter, it's clear that "cruelty" is too light of a word.

The thing is, the footage inside the Wegmans egg farm isn't anything more shocking than other similar expose footage. But you have to look at the company behind the farm. Wegmans is often pointed to as one of the Best Places to Work because of how well they treat their (human) employees. They offer gourmet foods, many "natural" foods, organic produce, and many vegan/vegetarian convenience foods at competitive prices. They're like a Whole Foods combined with a Safeway combined with a bakery combined with a cafe combined with a Target. Clearly, their target audience isn't the standard consumer.

Because of this, I would expect more from Wegmans. I'd expect them to follow Trader Joe's lead and not sell eggs from caged birds under their store brand. But because of these same factors, I see why Compassionate Consumers targeted them specifically: a company like Wegmans should be more likely to make changes in animal welfare to maintain their reputation.

Unfortunately, that didn't prove to be the case. Instead, Wegmans released this despicable press release last November (updated a few days ago) claiming not only that they treat their hens well but that the footage in the video may not have been shot at the Wegmans egg farm. Of course, they've offered no evidence that this is the case and are simply using that deceptive language to plant a seed of doubt in their customers' heads. In fact, Wegmans makes a lot of questionable claims shrouded by clever use of language:

"In November of 2005, our farm participated in its annual audit of the United Egg Producers (UEP) Certified program, which outlines a set of science-based standards for cage space, air and water quality, nutritious food, and other animal care practices. The USDA conducted this audit, and we received a perfect score - 200 out of 200. (Our score in 2004 was in the high 190's."

The UEP Certified program is, for all intents and purposes, meaningless. The UEP is an industry group that creates their own rules, rules that allow for painful debeaking of hens and extremely tight confinement (allowing each bird a mere 67-86 square inches - less than a sheet of 8 1/2"x11" paper and over 200 square inches less than a hen needs to be able to flap her wings). In fact, "UEP Certified" is the term the industry has been forced to use after Compassion Over Killing showed that their previous label, "Animal Care Certified," was misleading. I encourage you to read the industry's own guidelines (PDF) for yourself.

"In the end, it was determined there was no evidence of animal abuse. The New York State Police and the Wayne County District Attorney’s office jointly conducted the investigation, and Wegmans fully cooperated."

I'm guessing this is because most states exempt chickens from anti-cruelty laws and as long as it's "standard industry practice" (set, of course, by the industry), then it's OK.

"Food safety and food security are non-negotiable for us. We welcome customer debate on any topic, but we cannot tolerate illegal entry into our laying houses because of the obvious risk that a disease, like avian flu, could be tracked in."

It's interesting that they bring this up, considering many believe the reason that avian flu has spread like it has is specifically because of factory farm confinement operations.

"Eggs produced by cage-free hens are available at Wegmans. These eggs cost more to produce, so the retail price is much higher than Wegmans eggs. Three nationally-known specialty food stores are often lauded for switching to cage-free eggs only. Wegmans is a full-service supermarket, not a specialty food store." (Emphasis mine.)

They're not a speciality food store? Baloney. Compare Wegmans to your local Safeway and you'll see they're not a mere "full-service supermarket." Regular old supermarkets don't develop scary cult followings. Specialty food stores do.

The final statement of the press release is the most telling:

"We don't believe we should force all of our customers to pay more than double the price for a dozen eggs just because a few people think we should."

It's all about keeping prices down, which inevitably means that the birds suffer as a result. And if it were really just a "few people" would similar campaigns have worked with Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, and Wild Oats? How about the 80 universities and colleges that will no longer use caged birds' eggs in their dining halls? It's a legitimate concern of many, many consumers and Wegmans is failing to acknowledge that.

Compassionate Consumers takes on this same statement from Wegmans. Take a look, it's a great read.

So, know thy enemy. One would think that a seemingly progressive-thinking company like Wegmans would consider animal welfare as an important issue, but it's become clear that they're acting no different from any other factory farm operation that works under the "UEP Certified" label. How can we work with Wegmans to change their policy? Support groups like Compassionate Consumers. Write to Wegmans to express your disgust with not only their farms but with their public response. I firmly believe that they will change their ways, but it's going to take time and determination.

Also, keep an eye out on April 14th. ABC's Primetime is slated to cover the Wegmans egg farm investigation. Should be interesting to see how evenly the story is covered.

WILL WEGMANS' EGG PRODUCTION METHODS BE OUTLAWED IN DELAWARE?

United Poultry Concerns Supports Delaware Bill to Give Egg-Laying Hens More Space
DOVER, Del. April 12, 2006

Today a bill will be heard by the Delaware Senate Agriculture Committee designed to provide more space for caged egg-laying hens in the state. Enacted into law, Senate Bill 253, introduced by Del. Senator Karen Peterson, would require that caged egg-laying hens have sufficient living space per hen to allow each hen to fully extend all limbs without touching the sides of the living space.

In an April 12 letter to Senator Peterson and the Senate Agriculture Committee, United Poultry Concerns (UPC) expressed support for the proposed legislation as an important animal welfare measure with potential to improve the lives of thousands of egg-laying hens in Delaware while providing a model for other states.

Under current living conditions, caged egg-laying hens in the U.S. are typically confined within a space no larger and often less than 61 square inches per hen in cages holding an average of eight tightly squeezed hens. Such confinement restricts hens’ ability to perform basic behaviors including wing flapping and head and leg stretching, which hens in less-restricted spaces perform frequently throughout the day. The standard 61 sq. inches per hen does not even allow egg-laying hens to stand fully upright, UPC explained to legislators.

In addition, the effect of continuous rubbing of the hen’s body against cage wires and against adjacent hens causes body sores and feather loss, said UPC. At a meeting with egg industry leaders in Nov. 2002, farm animal expert Dr. Temple Grandin of Colorado State University criticized the fact that egg-laying hens are crammed so tightly in the cages that half their feathers are missing. Laying hens without feathers are “not normal” and “the situation has to change,” Dr. Grandin told the meeting, according to UPC.

Enacted into law, Senate Bill 253 would be a giant welfare step for egg-laying hens in Delaware while setting a precedent for other states to follow. “UPC is extremely grateful to Senator Karen Peterson for introducing this groundbreaking bill to reduce the suffering of thousands of caged egg-laying hens,” said UPC president Karen Davis. “UPC supports this bill,” Davis said.


United Poultry Concerns is a nonprofit organization that promotes the compassionate and respectful treatment of domestic fowl.
http://www.upc- online.org

AP News Video: Would the White House use Wegmans Eggs?

Controversy hatching over Wegmans' egg farm:
Activists push to change how hens are housed

By MATT GLYNN
Buffalo News
News Business Reporter
4/9/2006

Inside a massive complex east of Rochester, 750,000 chickens lay eggs that are sold under Wegmans' brand name in its 70 supermarkets. The Wayne County farm, which is owned by Wegmans Food Markets, is off limits to visitors. But animal-rights activists have drawn attention to the farm by sneaking in and filming the birds' living conditions.

The unauthorized entries have pitted Rochester-based Compassionate Consumers against the family-owned supermarket chain. The dispute is being played out in a film, protest rallies and a trial of the one of the activists.

Members of Compassionate Consumers used their egg farm footage as the basis of a half-hour movie called "Wegmans Cruelty." The film, released last year, criticizes what the group calls cruel conditions for the chickens.

Wegmans has fought back against the group's allegations, defending the operation of the farm and pledging to listen to outside experts who evaluate the conditions there.

Compassionate Consumers has pressed its campaign through free downloads of the movie via its Web site, and by selling or giving away copies. Members and their supporters have also staged rallies outside of Wegmans stores, including in Buffalo, and outside of Wegmans' headquarters in Rochester.

The group wants Wegmans to switch from housing chickens in stacks and rows of wire cages known as "battery cages," to a "cage-free" setting that the group says is more humane. The members also hope to raise consumer awareness of how eggs are produced in big farms like the one Wegmans owns.

The farm at the center of the dispute is in Wolcott, roughly 130 miles from Buffalo. It has been operated for the chain by the Wadsworth family since opening in 1967.

The Wegmans family wanted its own egg farm to guarantee a supply of consistently high-quality eggs for its stores, said Jo Natale, a Wegmans spokeswoman. About 80 people work at the farm, which consists of 11 layer houses.

Compassionate Consumers says it asked for a tour but was turned down. Wegmans says it restricts access to protect the birds from disease.

In 2004, activists with the group snuck in late at night three times to record the living conditions. They asked law enforcement authorities to investigate based on the footage they shared, but no charges were brought against Wegmans.

But three activists ended up facing charges last year related to their unauthorized entries. Melanie Ippolito and Megan Cosgrove, both of whom appear in the film, pleaded guilty to reduced charges, said Ryan Merkley, campaign coordinator for Compassionate Consumers.

Adam Durand, the maker of the film, is scheduled to go on trial May 2 on felony charges of burglary, trespassing and petit larceny, Merkley said.

Distribution of the "Wegmans Cruelty" film has helped the story attract media attention. The New York Times wrote about the dispute, and the ABC program "Primetime" is expected to air a report on Friday, Merkley said.

"Wegmans Cruelty" uses videotaped images of the birds and interviews with Compassionate Consumers members to focus on conditions in the farm. Members report finding as many nine hens in a cage, leaving the birds little room to move. And with cages stacked on top of each other, the birds are exposed to feces falling from above, they say.

In the film, activists are shown pulling corpses out of cages amid live hens. They retrieve a few birds they say were in distress, and remove them from the farm in cartons. In the interviews, viewers are urged to either buy eggs labeled as "cage-free" or to consider avoiding eating eggs altogether.

Compassionate Consumers says more than 20,000 people have downloaded the free movie at www.wegmanscruelty.com, and more than 6,000 free copies have been distributed.

Wegmans has vigorously countered Compassionate Consumers' claims with messages on its own Web site, www.wegmans.com, and its stores are offering brochures to answer customers' questions, Natale said.

"We're very proud of our farm," Natale said. "We're very proud of our eggs. We do not abuse animals."

The chain also says it gives its customers a choice. Shoppers at Wegmans stores can buy eggs from other suppliers that are produced by cage-free hens, but Wegmans says the retail price is two to three times higher than the store's own brand.

Responding to some of Compassionate Consumers' criticisms, Wegmans contends that the mortality rate for chickens on the Wolcott farm is less than 8 percent. It says that the conditions are safer than a cage-free or "free range" setting that would expose the chickens to greater risk of death from predators, cannibalism, disease or extreme weather.

As for the movie, Wegmans on its Web site says: "Many statements made in the film are simply not true, and we have serious doubts as to whether all the images come from our farm."

Wegmans says it receives expert advice about conditions in the farm. Dr. Benjamin Lucio-Martinez of Cornell University's Poultry Diagnostic and Extension Service, visits the farm to monitor the hens' health, Natale said. The veterinarian is not paid by Wegmans and has provided services to the chain since before the dispute arose, she said.

Lucio was out of the country last week and could not be reached to comment. In a recent interview in the New York Times, he described the movie's harsh portrayal of conditions at the egg farm as "extremely overrated."

Last year, Wegmans starting receiving expert advice from Joy Mench, a professor of animal science at the University of California at Davis. Mench is paid by Wegmans and was chosen for her expertise in poultry behavior, Natale said.

"We believe we were doing a good job [with the farm], but we wanted to be certain we were doing a good job," Natale said.

Both Natale and Mench declined to comment on Mench's discussions with Wegmans. "Obviously, if she points out ways we can improve, we will improve," Natale said.

Mench said when she visited last fall, she found that the farm met the voluntary standards established by the United Egg Producers, which represents about 200 egg-producing companies.

Mench is part of an independent panel that developed the UEP's guidelines for "best-management practices" for hens housed in cages. Those standards cover areas such as the amount of space per chicken, air quality, beak trimming and feeding of the birds, she said.

Merkley noted that the standards were created by a private organization, and that no federal standards exist for the treatment of egg-laying hens.

Compassionate Consumers was formed in 2003, focusing on the treatment of animals in agriculture. The group encourages consumers to adopt a vegetarian diet or "seek out more humane animal products." Merkley said the group does not have a formal membership roll, but about 30 to 35 people are regularly involved in the group's activities.

Merkley said the group is "still optimistic" that Wegmans will change how it houses its chickens, based on the chain's reputation as a company that does things differently from its competitors. "They have been stubborn so far," he said.

Wegmans is also unusual among supermarket chains in that it owns an egg farm and can have direct influence on the issue, he added. "They have the power to affect the lives of 750,000 birds," he said.

The group wants Wegmans to house its birds in an enclosed, cage-free setting, to create what it says are more humane conditions that would still protect the chickens.

Compassionate Consumers claims that keeping the hens in a cage-free setting would have a minimal impact on the price that shoppers pay for eggs, and would give the company "a great [public relations] advantage."

"At the very least, we've educated a great number of consumers into where their food comes from," Merkley said.

e-mail: mglynn@buffnews.com

Wegmans Updates its Egg Farm Webpage, from WegmansCruelty.com

Since “Wegmans Cruelty” was released to the public in July 2005, Wegmans Food Markets has been on the defensive. In the company’s ideal world, its customers would never see how inhumane, overcrowded, and disgusting Wegmans Egg Farm is, but now that the footage is out there the company has had to do a lot of damage control.

The Wegmans Egg Farm Update webpage has always been an interesting mix of generalizations, contradictions, and attacks designed to satisfy Wegmans customers who care about the welfare of animals [see also 'Wegmans' claims: fact & fiction'. But last week the webpage was updated, perhaps in response to the growing attention “Wegmans Cruelty” has received. The first thing that many people will ever learn about Wegmans is that it runs a needlessly cruel egg farm. Wegmans is trying to shake off that image.

Wegmans tells customers that the USDA carries out audits at its egg farm. This misleads concerned shoppers into believing that a federal agency has approved the animal welfare practices at Wegmans Egg Farm. This is, however, simply not the case. There exist no federal standards for the treatment of egg-laying hens. The USDA auditors are simply checking for the minimal standards set by United Egg Producers (UEP), a private organization. UEP's standards require that each egg-laying hen be given less than the space of a sheet of notebook paper in which to spend 18 months. In this small amount of space hens cannot even spread their wings.

Wegmans claims that phasing out battery cages at its egg farm and converting to a cage-free system would mean many of its customers could not afford eggs. But the best market research suggests that consumers would only have to pay just a few cents more each week if Wegmans went cage-free. As the only grocery store company in the country to run its own egg farm Wegmans is in a unique position to improve the lives of 750,000 animals and do it at minimal cost to its customers.

Here's a quote from Wegmans’ webpage that can be carefully analyzed:

There are definitely many inaccurate statements in the film, starting at the very beginning when it is said that ours was “the largest egg farm in the world” when it opened in 1967. It wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true today.
The line in “Wegmans Cruelty” that Wegmans raises issue with is actually a few minutes into the film, and it goes, "At the time [Wegmans Egg Farm] was built in 1967, it was considered the world's largest egg farm."

Compassionate Consumers spent months researching the history of Wegmans and its egg farm. We found a number of articles about Wegmans' egg facility while looking through the archives at the Wolcott Civic Free Library. Here is one of the sources for our claim that the facility was "considered" the largest in the world:

[see article on WegmansCruelty.com]

Maybe the Vice President of Wegmans was exaggerating at the time, but the article made him sound pretty clear about it.

We understand that Wegmans could forget what its vice president said almost 40 years ago, but when the company makes these claims it needs to realize that most of the information in “Wegmans Cruelty” comes from the mouths of Wegmans spokespeople. Compassionate Consumers makes no absolute or exaggerated claims in its film, because the footage from Wegmans Egg Farm speaks for itself.

================

Wegmans Egg Farm

We Are Proud of Our Egg Farm
(updated 03-28-2006)

About our farm and our practices…
We’ve been told that our egg farm, run for nearly 30 years by three generations of the Wadsworth family and a team of talented and committed employees, is one of the best in the country. It was started to ensure the freshest and highest quality eggs for our customers. Today, there are 750,000 chickens at the farm, and we are proud of our low mortality rate of less than 8%. Cage-free and free-range hens often have a much higher mortality rate because there is greater exposure to predators, disease, cannibalism, and extreme weather conditions.

In November of 2005, our farm participated in its annual audit of the United Egg Producers (UEP) Certified program, which outlines a set of science-based standards for cage space, air and water quality, nutritious food, and other animal care practices. The USDA conducted this audit, and we received a perfect score - 200 out of 200. (Our score in 2004 was in the high 190's.)

Last year, we began working with Dr. Joy Mench, professor of animal science at the University of California at Davis. Dr. Mench is an expert in animal behavior who co-authored the book "Poultry Behaviour and Welfare." She is also a member of the scientific panel that developed the standards for the UEP program. We asked Dr. Mench to visit our farm and consult with us for two reasons: first, to see if we were indeed doing as good a job with animal husbandry as we believed, and second, to learn if there was anything that could be improved. We are always looking for ways to improve, not just at our farm but across our entire organization.

We also work with Dr. Benjamin Lucio-Martinez, a veterinarian, who visits our farm and monitors the health and well being of our hens as part of Cornell University's Poultry Diagnostic and Extension Service.

A little background...
Three people broke into our farm more than once in 2004. They allegedly filmed hens in one laying house during the break-ins and called on law enforcement authorities to investigate our practices.

In the end, it was determined there was no evidence of animal abuse. The New York State Police and the Wayne County District Attorney’s office jointly conducted the investigation, and Wegmans fully cooperated.

Food safety and food security are non-negotiable for us. We welcome customer debate on any topic, but we cannot tolerate illegal entry into our laying houses because of the obvious risk that a disease, like avian flu, could be tracked in. We have strict bio-security measures in place at our farm. Those who broke in three times not only broke the law, they put our hens at risk and the jobs of the farm’s 80 employees. The break-ins are now a matter in the hands of law enforcement authorities.

There is no way for us to disprove that all of the images in the film (that was since released by those who broke in) were actually taken at our farm, or that none were staged. There are definitely many inaccurate statements in the film, starting at the very beginning when it is said that ours was “the largest egg farm in the world” when it opened in 1967. It wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true today.

Why choice is important…
Eggs produced by cage-free hens are available at Wegmans. These eggs cost more to produce, so the retail price is much higher than Wegmans eggs. Three nationally-known specialty food stores are often lauded for switching to cage-free eggs only. Wegmans is a full-service supermarket, not a specialty food store. Price is important to our customers, who expect to find eggs at an affordable price and value them as an inexpensive source of high quality protein. Some simply can't afford to pay more. We don’t believe we should force all of our customers to pay more than double the price for a dozen eggs just because a few people think we should.

If you have shopped at our stores and know us well, we hope you trust us to be honest and forthcoming. If you don't know us at all, we realize that's a lot to ask, but we appreciate the chance to tell you about our egg farm.

We are proud of our eggs