McDonald's Uses Risky Eggs in its McMuffins

Egg McMuffins; Bacon, Egg, and Cheese Biscuits; and McSkillet Burritos. McDonald's sure knows how to cater to the early morning fast food diners. In addition to all the fat, calories, and salt that come loaded in the Golden Arches' breakfasts, the fast food giant could be serving up bacteria-filled eggs.

McDonald's sources all of its eggs from hens kept in battery cages. These eggs come from factory farms where birds are crammed into cages so tiny that they can't even flap their wings or turn around. And while these conditions are undoubtedly cruel to defenseless chickens, they're also unsanitary.

Factory farmed hens give new meaning to the phrase "dirty bird." Across the U.S., factory farms keep about 280 million birds locked inside indoor cages stacked on top of each other. Chicken waste is everywhere, including on the birds themselves. Federal investigators recently visited Wright County Egg and Hillendale Farms, the two factory egg farms fingered in this summer's massive salmonella outbreak. Investigators found maggots, rodents, pools of standing water — you get the picture. And a recent Humane Society of the United States (HSUS) investigation into America's largest egg farm found equally disturbing scenes like dead and starving chickens, fly infestations, and manure.

While the thought of these gross conditions is sickening, eggs from birds kept in battery cages are oftentimes quite literally sickening. The crammed, unsanitary conditions are a breeding ground for diseases and bacteria, including salmonella.

HSUS is working to get businesses like McDonald's to switch to a much healthier and humane version of eggs — the cage-free variety. Studies show that eggs coming from hens that aren't kept in battery cages have much lower incidences of bacterial contamination like salmonella. “Piling hens into cages so small the birds can’t even extend their wings is both an animal welfare and food safety threat,” said Michael Greger, director of public health and animal agriculture for HSUS, in a press release. “It’s time for the McDonald’s to follow the lead of major companies and phase-in cage-free eggs, which are better for animals and safer for consumers.”

Indeed, McDonald's lags way behind its competitors in embracing cage-free eggs. Companies like Burger King, Wendy's, Subway, Denny's, Sonic, Quiznos, and other fast food joints have all joined HSUS's "No Battery Eggs Campaign." Even corporations like grocery stores and hospitals are transitioning into using only cage-free eggs.

With the billions of dollars McDonald's has at its disposal, switching over to cage-free eggs would be as easy as, well, scrambling an egg. Let's turn the pressure on. Sign our petition asking McDonald's to commit to using only cage-free eggs at all of its U.S. stores.

Photo credit: seamus_walsh via Flickr