Egg Supplier Dropped by McDonalds over Animal Cruelty Charges

A Minnesota-based egg supplier has been dropped over animal cruelty charges by McDonald’s Corp. An undercover video of operations at the egg producer’s farms in three states by Mercy for Animals shows animal cruelty at five Sparboe Farms facilities in Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado.

The video depicts images that show a worker swinging a bird around by its feet, cramping cages with hens, tossing of male chicks into plastic bags to suffocate and cutting tips of chick’s beaks by workers.
Bob Langert, McDonald’s vice president for sustainability, said in a statement that “The behavior on tape is disturbing and completely unacceptable. McDonald’s wants to assure our customers that we demand humane treatment of animals by our suppliers.”

On Wednesday, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration had issued a warning letter to Sparboe Farms regarding “serious violations” of federal regulations meant to prevent salmonella, found at five Sparboe facilities by its inspectors. According to the warning, eggs from those facilities “have been prepared, packed, or held under insanitary conditions whereby they may have become contaminated with filth, or whereby they may have been rendered injurious to health.”

Sparboe Companies LLC in a statement said that the video was “shocking” and that four employees “who were complicit in this disturbing activity” had been identified by an internal investigation and they were fired this month.

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