Cracking the Shell: McDonald's Milestone and the Ongoing Quest for Ethical Treatment of Animals

A Step Towards Compassion: McDonald's Cage-Free Egg Initiative and the Broader Fight for Animal Welfare

For more than fifty years now, I’ve been trying to persuade people of the need for fundamental ethical transformation of the way we think about nonhuman animals. Yet, despite some progress, and a welcome increase in the number of vegans, that transformation – call it animal rights, animal liberation, an end to speciesism, or whatever you wish - remains a distant goal.  I can’t see any indication that we will get there in a single revolutionary upheaval.  It’s going to take a series of incremental victories that improve the lives of animals while simultaneously educating more people about the deeper and more fundamental wrongs that we are doing to animals, on a vast scale.   That is why we should welcome McDonald's recent achievement in transitioning to 100% cage-free eggs for its operations in the United States. McDonald’s served 2 billion eggs in the U.S. in 2023, so this is not a minor item on their menu.  It means that each year, something like six million hens who would otherwise have spent the year locked into bare wire cages will now have space to walk around, spread their wings, and scratch in the litter on the floor of the shed in which they live.

This didn’t happen overnight, and it’s worth looking at how it came about. 

The story begins with Henry Spira, the pioneering activist for oppressed humans and oppressed animals. (To learn more about Henry, see this video) In 1989, Henry began talking to McDonald’s about setting standards for the welfare of the animals whose flesh, milk or eggs it was selling.  As he put it: “If McDonald’s moves a millimeter, everyone else moves with them.” McDonald’s was willing to talk, but for several years, it just stalled.  It wasn’t until 1997, and the public relations disaster of the “McLibel” trial - when McDonald’s sued two activists for defamation because they had said, among other things, that the corporate giant was responsible for cruelty to animals, and the court held that this was not defamation because the charge was true - that McDonald’s began to entertain the idea of setting standards for its suppliers.  Later that year Bob Langert, McDonald’s director of environmental affairs, came to New York to meet Henry and me, and the company began to entertain the idea of setting standards for its suppliers. Sadly, Henry died without seeing those standards accepted, but some of the organizations working for farmed animals – among them People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, the Humane Society of the US, Mercy for Animals, and The Humane League - continued his work. In 2015, McDonald’s pledged to phase out eggs from caged hens, but said that it would need ten years to do it, because McDonald’s was using 2 billion eggs a year, and at that time, the supply simply wasn’t there – 93% of U.S. eggs came from caged hens.  Today, that figure is around 60%.  and McDonald’s has fulfilled its pledge nearly two years ahead of schedule.

Don’t get me wrong.  The term "cage-free" doesn’t mean that the hens get to range around open pastures and enjoy the sunshine.  Nearly all “cage-free” hens are locked up in a shed crowded with thousands of other birds and the high stocking density can lead to stress and pecking, which may result in injury. This is still not an ethically tolerable way of confining animals.  Still, cage-free systems allow hens to stretch their limbs, move around, perch, and scratch in the litter. That’s a significant improvement over life trapped in a cage so small that even if there were just one hen per cage, she could not fully stretch her wings – and there will be four or more hens in each of those cages.  Such cages are illegal in the entire European Union, the United Kingdom, and a few U.S. states, including California, but remain the way in which most egg-laying hens live in the U.S.

These incremental advances form part of a larger narrative where consumer demand and ethical considerations influence major corporations to alter their practices. McDonald's shift to cage-free eggs reflects growing consumer concern about animal welfare, which is having an increasing impact on corporate policies and practices. The transition to cage-free egg production was no small feat; it required a massive overhaul of existing supply chains. This overhaul was navigated through the collaborative efforts of numerous stakeholders, including the huge agricultural conglomerate Cargill and various family-owned egg producers. These entities faced substantial challenges, such as reconfiguring barn layouts, investing in new infrastructure, and adapting to new animal husbandry practices. Their commitment to adopting cage-free systems demonstrates that industry will change if consumers and investors forcefully express their concerns about poor animal welfare.

Henry Spira's legacy is a powerful reminder that change is within reach when consumers raise their voices for higher standards. The animal movement needs to build on this achievement, striving for standards that reduce harm and promote the health and well-being of animals, pushing beyond cage-free to create a more ethical and sustainable food system.