Molting in the cross hairs

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The VivaVine
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Publisher: Pamela Rice
www.vivavegie.org

The VivaVine (Fall 2001, Vol. 10, No. 4)

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To stimulate egg laying in factory hens, as well as to facilitate the production of jumbo eggs, farmers force their spent flocks to molt. This is done by depriving the birds of food and water for extended periods of time--up to 2 weeks in some cases. A large percentage of the hens die from the cruel process. For humane reasons alone, forced molting has come under attack. But other considerations, such as the spread of a particular kind of salmonella bacteria, have entered what has become a heated debate in the egg business as well as in animal-rights circles.

McDonald's, for one, has told its suppliers it will not purchase eggs from those that utilize the practice. Now the U.S. government wants to get in on the act. According to Scripps Howard News Service, Senators Peter Fitzgerald, R-IL, and Patrick Leahy, D-VT, are working on a proposal that would bar the U.S. Department of Agriculture from buying eggs from suppliers that force-molt their birds for use in the school lunch program.

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