Purdue News

September 1, 2000 McDonald's and egg producers say the chicken comes first WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – McDonald's USA's new requirements for hen-friendly eggs from their suppliers come partly from a program hatched by forward-thinking egg producers. McDonald's recently announced that laying operations will have to meet stricter animal-welfare requirements to qualify as egg suppliers for the company. It's been called the first program of its kind for a retail food company. While McDonald's should take some well-deserved bows, the landmark program was possible because egg producers, who were already working on their own guidelines, met the fast-food giant more than halfway, said Jeff Armstrong, Purdue University animal scientist and chair of the United Egg Producer's welfare advisory committee. "When McDonald's went looking for a way to address their concerns about laying operations, they were excited to find that the United Egg Producers had what they needed," Armstrong said. The UEP began working on its new guidelines for laying-hen husbandry in 1998 when Indiana egg producer Bob Krouse and other UEP leaders asked Purdue to help create a national-level scientific advisory committee. Krouse said the committee was asked by UEP to come up with the best scientific recommendations for well-being for laying operations, knowing that they would have to disqualify or modify some practices. "Egg producers knew they needed to have a production based on science, not just experience or common practices," said Krouse, CEO of Midwest Poultry Services, a family business that supplies shell eggs to McDonald's. Krouse said the UEP guidelines, which have not been finalized by the industry group, are nearly identical to the McDonald's recommendations and differ only in how they're implemented. For example, UEP sets cage size per bird from 67 square inches to 86 square inches, depending on the type of the chickens. McDonald's chose 72 square inches for all birds. Also, the UEP guidelines allow induced molting under strict conditions, a practice McDonald's does not allow. McDonald's also expects its suppliers to comply with its guidelines by the end of 2001 while the UEP recommendations, which are voluntary, could take up to 10 years to implement without market incentives. While some egg producers have criticized both sets of guidelines as too radical, Armstrong said it was industry and science that created the guidelines. "The guidelines are based on the best available science. That means we validated certain practices and counseled against others based on objective studies and not just emotion or status quo." Krouse said the UEP has accepted all of the scientific advisory committee's recommendations, and a committee of egg producers has begun to finalize the guidelines by planning how to implement the program. He said he thinks changing generations of practices will be difficult, but necessary if the industry wants to continue to operate with the goodwill of customers and consumers. "If it was easy, everybody would be doing it," Krouse said. "But customers who are demanding usually stick with you for the long haul and they pay for what they ask for." Armstrong said the UEP is continuing to fund research to further improve industry practices, such as looking for new methods to induce molting. "People know very little about how food is raised, but they care deeply. Animal agriculture needs to be able to objectively defend what they do and why they do it," Armstrong said. Sources: Jeff Armstrong, (765) 494-4806, jarmstr5@purdue.edu Bob Krouse, egg producer, (219) 353-7651, bob@mpslp.com Writer: Chris Sigurdson, (765) 494-8396; sig@aes.purdue.edu Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu Related Web sites: McDonald's USA - Corporate Information - Animal Welfare To the Purdue News and Photos Page