Jordana Stier
Life Reporter

Food Services manager Don Henriques said he would consider finding out where the eggs served on campus come from, after the University of Guelph became the first school in Canada to stop serving eggs laid by caged hens.

“Humber is in partnership with many Canadian universities and shares similar concerns and information,” he said. “Their student concerns are our student concerns.”

Henriques said if Humber identifies it’s purchasing eggs from battery farms, it will consider alternate options.

Misha Buob, a member of Guelph University’s Hospitality Services Advisory Committee and supporter of the initiative, said the committee decided to stop purchasing caged-hen eggs due to evidence that birds suffer in battery cages.

“They spend their whole lives standing on a slanted metal floor, so they develop a foot condition that’s very painful. The lack of exercise contributes to the development of osteoporosis,” he said. “They’re forced to lay their eggs on the wire floor cramped up against their cage mates . . . rubbing against their cage mates, the sides of the cage is chafing all of their feathers out.”

Since Guelph is an agricultural university, its actions improve the chances of other universities and companies doing the same.

“There are some examples like UBC (Unversity of British Columbia), Simon Fraser out west, Concordia, McGill and the University of Toronto which are looking into this issue,” Buob said.

He added 98 per cent of eggs produced in Canada come from battery cages.

Looking for labels such as free run, free range and organic, ensures consumers the eggs are from cage-free hens.

Bruce Passmore, a Guelph graduate and co-ordinator for the Vancouver Humane Society’s Chicken Out! Project, said “these are institutions that are educating the next generation, and we have them making this very significant statement.”

According to Passmore, Chicken Out! strives to “empower consumers into making more compassionate decisions such as using eggs from non-caged hens.”

Passmore said with 26 million egg-laying hens in Canada, this is one of the worst forms of animal cruelty.
“It’s completely unequivocal that hens suffer in cages.”

Avoiding caged hen eggs will help reduce the demand and will ultimately send a message to the producers that people will not stand for hens in cages and therefore, will stop using the system, Passmore said.

“Anyone who sees the images of battery cages can tell that no bird should be put in this condition,” he said.

Passmore said when going for the cheapest system, somebody always pays the price. In this case, it’s the birds.