HSUS Sues Egg Industry; Egg Industry Accuses HSUS of Conspiracy

Oh boy. Yesterday the Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) filed a lawsuit against United Egg Producers (UEP), the largest egg industry trade association in the United States, which has a history of deceptive practices, as well as MoArk, LLC, and R.W. Sauder, Inc., two of the nation's largest egg producers. Why? The UEP likes to slap a "United Egg Producers Certified" logo on packages of eggs and present its certification program as ensuring the welfare of its companies' egg-laying machines hens. The reality? Factory farms and battery cages (see the glossary if you're not familiar with these terms, and while you're there, take a look at "cage-free" and "free-range" too--we'll be talking about those later). And the individual egg producers in this lawsuit are violating the D.C. Consumer Protection Procedures Act with false animal-welfare claims and price-fixing schemes.

From the HSUS press release:

“The egg factory farms know consumers don’t want hens confined in tiny cages where they can barely move for their entire lives, but rather than changing their ways, they’ve just changed their ad campaigns,” said Jonathan Lovvorn, vice president and chief counsel of Animal Protection Litigation at The HSUS. “This industry is telling consumers what they want to hear, but behind the scenes, millions of birds are suffering some of the worst factory farm abuses imaginable.”

And what's the best thing to do when you know there's been an undercover investigation, and you're about to have a big, juicy lawsuit slapped down on your desk? Go on the offensive, of course! Earlier this week, in a painfully transparent effort to shift attention away from its own deceptive practices, cruelty, and law-breaking, the UEP started petitioning the Maryland and California attorneys general to file charges against HSUS, for wiretapping and conspiracy (press release--not news article--here). Really.

The UEP is chiding the HSUS investigator for pretending to be an egg-industry ally and for taping phone calls without permission--and also for daring to reveal the content of the recorded calls without first getting the permission of all parties to the call. Now someone correct me if I'm wrong--because I've never been directly involved with one myself--but isn't that how an undercover investigation works? And if the government agencies in charge of monitoring the animal ag industries and enforcing the laws can't be bothered to do their job, it's up to the advocacy groups to take on the task. But it gets better: the HSUS and the political action committee Humane California are also accused of conspiracy.

Ridiculous. But also scary--because in today's climate, an animal ag industry could actually get an organization charged in a situation such as this.

"Animal Cruelty Certified" logo courtesy of Compassion Over Killing.