If you're like most Americans, you've been shelling out more for staples since the start of the pandemic. According to a recent survey, 85% of shoppers report spending more on groceries, with meat, eggs and milk topping the list of items taking bigger bites out of food budgets. As consumers look for affordable alternatives to meat, sales of tofu have soared _ jumping 40% compared to the same time last year. But can we replace eggs?
Absolutely! Cooking without eggs is nothing new to vegans, who can whip up perfect baked goods using everything from avocado to zucchini (hint: that tofu you bought will work, too). These vegan substitutes will certainly save you money and, as PETA's latest investigation shows, spare gentle hens from a lifetime of suffering.
After receiving two whistleblower tips, PETA conducted an undercover investigation into an egg factory farm in Ohio that supplies Walmart, the nation's largest grocer. One tip came from a distressed worker who reported that in December, 260,000 hens were killed by closing off the ventilation in sheds and raising the temperature to at least 104 degrees, essentially roasting them alive.
This farm warehouses up to 2.4 million hens in 16 massive sheds. In just 18 days there, PETA's investigator found hundreds of dead hens, many of whom had been left to decompose alongside the living in small, cramped cages.
In one documented incident, the investigator found a severely injured hen still alive in a trash bin. A supervisor had clumsily attempted to kill her but failed. The investigator immediately notified the supervisor, who left the hen to languish in a cage for two more days before another worker finally tried to break her neck. Workers killed many hens by repeatedly twisting and pulling on their heads _ meaning that death was neither instantaneous nor painless.
Birds had no place to sit, stand or lie down except the bare wire flooring of the cages, which cut into their feet. Many were missing feathers, often as a result of stress-induced self-mutilation or fighting, as each bird had less than a square foot of space. A deafeningly loud leaf blower was used to remove loose feathers and dust, causing the trapped birds to panic and crash against the wire walls of the cages.
In late June, workers cruelly killed more than 100,000 unwanted "spent" hens, yanking them out of the cages and slamming them by the dozens into metal boxes. Those who didn't suffocate under the hens piled on top of them were killed by being gassed with carbon dioxide, which is acidic and can cause extreme pain. Chickens cried out inside the metal boxes and could be heard banging against the walls.
Most hens exploited by the egg industry live in constant fear. They spend every day and every night _ for up to two years _ barely able to move inside a cramped cage in a shed reeking of ammonia on a farm similar to this one.
As Ingrid Newkirk points out in her book "Animalkind," chickens have complex social structures, adept communication skills and distinct personalities. They pass down cultural knowledge from generation to generation. Their social nature means that they're always looking out for their families and for other birds in their group.
These birds deserve much better than a lifetime of misery, treated as nothing more than egg-laying machines.
The novel coronavirus has upended our world. But each new challenge presents us with an opportunity to rethink our habits and routines and find kinder, more sustainable ways of going about our lives. Whether we want to live more compassionately or just want to save money, for the sake of the billions of gentle hens who suffer on factory farms in the U.S. every year, let's break the egg habit.
