New York Consumers, PETA Sue Egg Producers Over Misleading “Cage-Free” Or “Free Range” Slogans When Reality Is Ordinary Factory Farm Operations, Nothing Special, Worth More

We asked PETA some questions about this lawsuit, which is based primarily on advertising fraud and misleading of consumers.  While these are issues that can be prosecuted by the FCC (Federal Communications Commission), often there is little real enforcement unless it is something involving severe and malicious fraud.  For instance, the case where Volkswagen touted itself as having ‘clean diesel,’  when in fact it had some kind of technology installed to defeat the emmissions testing equipment and make it provide false results.  This can be seen in our recent article about money in politics. However, it should be noted that when it comes to animals and their welfare, most of the categories that companies tout, such as ‘free range,’ ‘pasture raised,’ etc, are really meaningless terms, kind of like ‘natural’ is when it comes to processed foods.  Whereas in the case of plant-based foods, Certified Organic has real meaning in terms of the chemicals allowed to be used to fertilize and use as pesticides, but when it comes to animals, again, the regulations are virtually non-existent. They consist of their feed being organic, with nothing at all about access to the actual outdoors, rather than just a door that they might be able to get to but probably cannot.  However, the allegations are that this company willfully mislead consumers by showing what they should be getting while providing the animals with care that was completely different than advertised.  In other words, it should have cost the same as other conventional egg products, but instead they were charging more for offering something different – but it was allegedly fraud.  We had also interviewed John DiLeonardo of Humane Long Island about the issues related to bird flu, which is shown to be spread through the factory farm / feedlot type operations that the farm below is alleged to actually be, where they actually sell the scraped-off-the-floor feces to cow feedlots to provide feed for the cows that is cheap and actually waste – and terribly unhealthy for the animals too.  

Questions in italics, answers in bold;

Were the farms contracted located in New York, or is this just on behalf of the consumers who purchased the eggs after production in this state?  Is this just about one farm in particular, or were there multiple farms involved? 

As for the goal of the lawsuits, they seek damages, injunctive relief, and corrective advertising. The requested injunctive relief includes a corrective advertising campaign, treating the hens as advertised by providing true “Pasture Raised” and/or “Free Range” conditions, and/or refunds to class members.

Pete & Gerry’s Eggs Hit With Class-Action Lawsuit Over Misleading Marketing Claims

New York — Drone footage of two Pete and Gerry’s supplier farms is at the center of a Class action lawsuit filed today by PETA Foundation attorneys in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, on behalf of consumers who paid premium prices for eggs misleadingly marketed as “pasture raised.”

The lawsuit argues that Pete and Gerry’s crams 20,000 hens into crowded sheds, leaving each chicken with just 1.5 square feet of floor space or less—making it nearly impossible for many to move, much less reach an exit. The drone footage, although filmed over several hours on a clear day when hens should be outside according to the company’s claims to consumers, showed that no hens left the barn at the first farm, and only a handful did at the second farm—inconsistent with the images on the company’s packaging that show hens in lush green fields and its website’s claim that the birds are “free to frolic under sunny skies.”

The lawsuit points out that, in addition to the thousands of hens crowded together, Pete and Gerry’s policies specify that barn doors may be closed during poor weather, certain stages of egg laying, or elevated bird flu risk. As a result, the lawsuit reports, many hens may never make it outdoors at all. It alleges Pete and Gerry’s leverages consumer preferences for “humanely raised” eggs to justify getting buyers to pay more for the eggs they sell, despite the hens’ living conditions being far from humane.

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“Consumers are misleadingly told that by buying egg brands making ‘pasture raised’ claims, they’re avoiding some of the most notorious factory farm abuses, like hens crammed together by the tens of thousands,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges everyone to remember that the easiest way to prevent hens from suffering at all is by choosing vegan eggs or no eggs at all.”

Chickens form complex social structures, dream when they sleep, and worry about the future, just as humans do. PETA notes that vegan egg options such as JUST Egg are widely available in stores. For consumers looking for vegan egg options, PETA’s free vegan starter kit can help anyone thinking of making the switch.

The lawsuit seeks damages, injunctive relief, and corrective advertising on behalf of consumers nationwide who purchased Pete and Gerry’s “pasture raised” egg products.

Banner Image: Funny face eggs. Image Credit – Олег Мороз