by Leigh Goessl

Created on: August 25, 2010

The massive egg recall in the summer of 2010 has sparked a lot of attention to the many ways egg manufacturers produce eggs. As of August 2010 approximately a half a billion eggs were recalled due to the potential for salmonella contamination after the U.S. Centers for Disease Controls saw a spike in salmonella illness in June which opened an investigation which led to the recalled eggs.

Roughly 90 percent of the eggs distributed in the United States are produced through a system consisting of 'battery caged' chickens. What this means is the egg laying hens are confined in cages that only allow 67 inches of cage space, which is not even enough room for the birds to spread their wings. As a result these hens cannot participate in several of their natural behaviors such as nesting, perching and dustbathing (humanesociety.org).

Due to the extreme confined conditions of battery cages, hens basically live an awful and cruel existence. If the cruelty was not bad enough, from a health perspective, generally chickens that spend their time caged in close proximity with no room or ability to move can result in dirty conditions and, as a result, the contamination and spread of harmful bacteria can occur.

Recently an article on MSN.com reported "These [battery confined hens] birds have a space smaller than the size of a sheet of paper to move around, and live in filthy conditions". The article continues to say "Aside from animal welfare concerns, that's bad for our health, too, Pennsylvania State University shows, because researchers recently found eggs raised on pasture are much more nutritious than eggs from their caged counterparts."

With the egg recall now inching up closer and closer to perhaps even eventually reaching a billion eggs produced in a relatively short period of time, it seems smaller egg producers and individual farmers are likely to see a surge in purchases and higher demand for non-mass produced eggs.

Purchasing eggs which were laid in conditions where chickens could live in more natural conditions is in many instances believed to reduce the chance of infection or contamination. In 2010 many consumers are educating themselves on battery caged chickens and looking into alternative egg producers such as cage free, organic or free range eggs. While the three may not necessarily imply ideal conditions or result in contamination free eggs, anything is probably better than the battery caged chicken practice.  

While there is no guarantee illness may not arise from alternative egg products, chances are 'battery caged' chickens are more likely to produce contaminated eggs and contribute to bacteria induced illnesses.

Sources:

MSN Health

CNN

Associated Press

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