Egg Shortages Hit Europe. Soon to Hit America?

Starting this year, new animal-welfare regulations took effect for farmers in the European Union. The result? Supermarkets in Britain fear shortages of products using eggs:

Britain's supermarket shelves could be empty of key products within a month as an acute shortage of eggs threatens to have serious consequences for the country's food chain. New EU rules banning the housing of hens in conventional cages are being blamed for what some in the industry are already labelling a "crisis", as competition among food manufacturers to source eggs sends prices rocketing. The price of eggs on the EU wholesale market has nearly quadrupled over the past week to more than four euros a kilo.

"It's now no longer a question of price, it's a question of supply," said one industry source who asked to be anonymous. "I estimate that within three to four weeks some companies will be at breaking point."

France is also facing a potential crisis by suffering a 10 percent shortfall, with the price of eggs having skyrocketed 75 percent since last autumn. In all, the EU is targeting 13 countries that didn’t meet the deadline.

It’s the basic laws of supply and demand—higher production costs from the new infrastructure translate into higher prices, which mean less demand. Supply is likewise reduced, especially in the near-term if farms still using now-outlawed methods and can’t sell their eggs.

This doesn’t benefit egg farmers. It doesn’t benefit other businesses that use eggs, like bakers. And it certainly doesn’t benefit consumers.

Now, we should caution that the EU producers weren’t asked to change overnight. They were given 12 years to do it. We’re not sure if some just didn’t care, or if they simply couldn’t afford to change. (In this economy, who could blame them?)

Whatever the reason, for British egg producers who did comply with the law, it’s unfair to allow the now-illegally produced (and cheaper) eggs to be sold and undercut them. And consumers and grocers are also in a bind. Here’s one example from a Sheffield seller:

The scramble for eggs is forcing him to charge £2.20 for a dozen large eggs – an £1 increase on what he normally charges.

Paul said: “I paid 30p per dozen more for the eggs I bought this morning than I paid for the same-sized eggs yesterday, it’s crazy.

“I have to pass that cost on to my customers who simply can’t pay those kind of prices.

So, cui bono? If you’re a group with a vegan agenda—like HSUS or PETA—this news is just dandy. Call it intended consequences. HSUS has said it wants to “get rid of the entire industry” and that “we don’t want any of these animals raised and killed.” (In a sad twist, some European producers have had to simply destroy their birds.)

Could this happen in the US? Remember, in 2008 HSUS pushed an initiative to require California farms to switch systems in just 7 years. It’s now pushing for a federal law to mandate incremental shifts across the country over the next 15-18 years.

HSUS doesn’t have to go whole hog and ban meat or dairy products. It just has to make them prohibitively expensive so that few people can afford to buy them. (Think about how it’s possible for California to ban foie gras.) And legislative mandates appear to be just the right way.

But for consumers—and producers—it’s looking like mandates drive chaos. Wouldn’t it be easier if change was driven by consumer demand (as it is now) instead of animal rights-backed government interference?

Dr. Veg

HSUS’s top MD, Michael Greger, puts out an annual DVD titled “Latest in Clinical Nutrition.” Greger’s spiel is that he searches through just about every English-language journal every day—some 12,000 articles last year, for example—so that we don’t have to. He then presents what he thinks is the most notable science, in what can amount to an hours-long lecture.

(Greger, by the way, says all the DVD proceeds go to charity. We’re not sure which one though. HSUS? PETA? But we digress.)

So what did the good doctor find this year? If you know anything about the propaganda mill that is HSUS, you already have an idea.

HSUS Scrambles for Credibility

There’s big news in the animal agriculture world today: The Humane Society of the United States (the world’s richest animal rights group) announced an agreement with the United Egg Producers (the nation’s largest egg trade group) to support federal legislation mandating a national shift in how egg-laying hens are housed. Both groups will support a new legal requirement for “enriched” (larger) cages by 2030. Everyone expects Congress to pass the law next year.

Just yesterday the Oregonian reported that HSUS believed an enriched cage “barely improves the quality of life for hens.” Yet today HSUS is endorsing a switch to those very cages. Did HSUS have a change of heart overnight? We doubt it.

From what we can see, the game is far from played-out.

Has HSUS’s Lobbying Prowess Been Neutered?

Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The Humane Society of the United States just might be learning this one the hard way.

HSUS, which isn’t affiliated with your local pet shelter, spent more than $17 million of its donors’ money on lobbying efforts between 2005 and 2009 while giving far less than that to hands-on pet shelters.

Currently on HSUS’s lobbying agenda are state ballot initiatives in Washington and Oregon to force egg farmers (and consumers) to go “cage-free.” These are sequels to the group’s 2008 “Proposition 2” campaign in California.

Today HSUS lost the support of The Oregonian, the largest newspaper in the Beaver State. This marks the second major Oregon setback for HSUS in a few months’ time.

HSUS’s political credibility is going to the dogs.

Washington State Vets Rain on HSUS Parade

The Humane Society of the United States—an animal rights group not affiliated with your local humane society—is gathering signatures for a ballot initiative in the state of Washington. HSUS’s goal? Make it illegal to produce or sell “regular” eggs in the Evergreen State.

Sound extreme? We think so. But HSUS claims that forcing everyone to pay extra for “cage-free” eggs—and forcing farmers to spend more money producing those eggs—will be good for animal welfare. (In the end, though, HSUS’s leaders would prefer to see no eggs sold anywhere, even the “cage-free” kind.)

Last week, HSUS took a hit when the Washington State Veterinary Medical Association (WSVMA) announced its unanimous opposition to the all-cage-free, all-the-time idea.

A counterproposal in the Washington legislature (SB 5487) is already under consideration. It would require that new hen houses on egg farms abide by the American Humane Association’s standards for “enriched” hen cages. (Those are the hen cages that animal welfare expert Temple Grandin thinks everyone should be using.) The bill would also require existing egg operations to be animal-welfare certified by the United Egg Producers.

HSUS, as you might imagine, is not a big fan of this idea. The animal rights position is all about eventual animal “liberation.” And people who choose not to eat eggs seldom worry about keeping costs reasonable for those of us who do.

“For Animal Liberation to Become Possible”

Paul Shapiro is a member of the “Animal Rights Hall of Fame,” and in charge of anti-animal-agriculture campaigns at the Humane Society of the United States—a moderate-sounding animal rights group that most Americans believe is affiliated with their local humane societies. (This is not the case.)

Appealing to mainstream values is a strategy that the Humane Society of the United States employs constantly, but the group’s end goal is far out on the fringe: By the “humane” treatment of animals, HSUS means an end to all human uses of animals, whether on the farm, in medical schools, at the zoo, or on the dinner table. That’s something mainstream Americans just don’t agree with.

Skeptical? Before Shapiro adopted HSUS’s more moderate “animal protection” tone, he was all about “animal liberation.”

PETA Lets the Cat out of the Bag

This website is not about PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), but today is an exception.

PETA Vice President for Policy Bruce Friedrich is a long-time animal-rights movement insider. He’s been at PETA since 1996, and is seen as one of the movement’s more frank and unapologetic spokespersons. (Friedrich’s commentary about arson and violence in defense of animals speaks for itself.)

He’s also an open advocate for strict veganism—meaning not a single trace of milk, cheese, eggs, or meat in people’s diet. This makes him an honest broker about where the animal rights movement wants to take the global food system. Contrast that attitude with the Humane Society of the United States’ softer “now we’re vegan, now we’re not” approach.

It’s natural to regard the Humane Society of the United States’ attitude toward food as a head-scratcher: Is it the same as PETA’s, or is it not? First HSUS pours millions of dollars into political initiatives that seem only about taking egg-laying chickens out of cages. Then its chief health official appears in a photo-op promoting the idea that no one should eat eggs at all. Humane Society of the United States CEO Wayne Pacelle created “vegan only” internal policies at HSUS, but insists that he’s not trying to create more meatless eaters.

Bruce Friedrich recently published a Huffington Post essay that should be read by everyone who finds these omnivore-or-herbivore word games puzzling. (For the record, we don't care if you're vegan or not--that's a personal choice that everyone should be free to make. But we do have a problem with activists who hide the ball about their agenda.)