WELLNESS POLITICS-Eight years ago grocery retailer Costco (COST) pledged to transition out of using eggs from chickens in small cages to cage free only. Less than two weeks ago a video was released showing the cramped and abusive conditions that Costco chickens are living under.
To make matters worse, Costco had already pledged to change the living conditions of their chickens and to go from small penned up cages to free range. That promise was made almost a decade ago by Craig Wilson, assistant vice president of food safety and quality assurance at Costco.
A few years after they pledged to be better they changed their packaging on their egg containers. The under cover footage recently obtained shows a graphic and much different picture. It was the Humane Society that released this video that was shot at Hillandale Farms in Gettysburg Pennsylvania.
The Humane Society is quoted as saying “the eggs are sold at some Costco stores under the brand name 'Nearby Eggs' in packages depicting an image of hens roaming free in a pasture outside a picturesque red barn with the claim 'Farm Fresh' emblazoned on the carton." Even companies like Burger King and Starbucks are in the process of converting to all cage free eggs and Whole Foods has not sold eggs from caged chickens in a decade.
Last week Ryan Gosling joined the fight by penning a letter to Costco stating his outrage at the abhorrent and cruel living conditions of these chickens, and his letter did not go unnoticed. Ryan is aware that his clout will help bring awareness. This isn’t the first time a corporation only shows concern about the bottom line with little to no regard to life and animal cruelty. Time and time again we are shown that the only way to get these corporations to change their tune is by not spending money at their stores.
As I wrote about Diet Pepsi dropping Aspartame, they didn’t do it because it’s bad for our health. They have known for decades that it’s a toxic and dangerous chemical.
They finally dropped aspartame because their sales began to plummet and through research they found it was due to customer awareness around Aspartame. If we want to see Costco stop abusing animals, the two easiest ways to affect that change is to sign petitions and stop shopping there until they make good on their promise to cease with animal abuse.
(Christian Cristiano is an acupuncturist in LA, TV host of Wellness for Realists and writes on wellness regularly for CityWatch. Christian can be reached at 323.935.3420. twitter: @CristianoWFR)
-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 54
Pub: Jul 1, 2015
