What to know
- Animal law advocacy group Animal Justice released footage from an undercover investigation at a Burnbrae Farms facility in Lyn, Ont., alleging thousands of hens were kept in cramped cages and subjected to neglect and rough handling.
- The organization says Burnbrae Farms supplies eggs to major grocery chains, including Farm Boy, and is urging the retailer to be held accountable for sourcing from a producer linked to alleged animal cruelty.
- Burnbrae Farms said the conditions shown do not reflect its animal care standards and that it’s reviewing the situation.
- Advocates are calling on Farm Boy and Sobeys to publish clear timelines to eliminate cages from their egg supply chains, arguing Canada is falling behind global shifts toward cage-free production.
A Canadian animal advocacy group is calling out Farm Boy after claiming to find caged hens inside a major egg production facility, which allegedly supplies products to the grocery chain.
Animal law advocacy organization Animal Justice has recently released details about an undercover investigation at a Burnbrae Farms facility in Lyn, Ont., which revealed thousands of hens allegedly being kept in cages in what advocates call “cruel conditions.”
Animal Justice Corporate Engagement Manager PJ Nyman tells Now Toronto that the situation was uncovered by an undercover investigator, who worked at the facility for weeks while carrying a hidden camera.
“There was confinement in cramped cages, with about 70 per cent of the hens at this facility living their entire lives in cages. We saw hens with untreated injuries, with really rough handling practices, and many suffering from neglect, slowly dying from starvation or becoming trapped in equipment,” he said.
Along with a report of what was allegedly observed in the facility, animal advocates also released video footage of the farm, documenting its practices.
Nyman explains that living in cages restricts hens’ natural behaviours, while studies suggest those kept in cages experience several more hours of suffering and pain than those raised cage-free.
“[Cages] don’t allow them to spread their wings or to feel the ground beneath their feet. They’ve confined multiple hens in a single cage. The cages are stacked several tiers high. They then experience disease and all kinds of painful conditions associated with being confined for that period of time,” he said.
“They’re not able to have any privacy, they’re not able to have any kind of enrichment or to do natural behaviours like dust bathing or foraging.”
Burnbrae Farms confirmed to Now Toronto they are aware of the shared videos, and said the observed conditions do not reflect their animal care standards.
“Our animal welfare team is working to better understand the situation, and we are committed to taking immediate corrective action as needed. Our family has a generations-long commitment to the highest standards of animal care and meeting the expectations of our customers,” the farm said in an email.
Information about how the producer’s animal care standards are available at the Burnbrae Farms’ website.
Advocates call out Farm Boy
According to Animal Justice, Burnbrae Farms is a major egg producer in the country, with its hens allegedly producing about 300,000 eggs per day, and supplying its egg products to several grocery stores across the country, including Farm Boy.
In addition to exposing the farm’s practices, advocates are also calling out Farm Boy for sourcing its products from Burnbrae, while maintaining a “sustainable image to customers.”
“It was really disheartening to see that level of cruelty at such a big facility, especially a supplier to Farm Boy, which presents a pretty idyllic and sustainable image to customers,” Nyman added.
While Farm Boy’s website notes that it officers locally-crafted products, fresh fruits and vegetables, and “sustainably-sourced seafood, artisanal cheese and deli,” it doesn’t directly address egg supplies.
The organization has also launched a petition urging supporters to “hold Farm Boy accountable” for the treatment of hens in the facility and urging the grocery chain to publish a plan to support cage-free egg production.
Advocates urge for cage-free production
Last year, Animal Justice also published reports of Sobeys egg suppliers in British Columbia, which were alleged to have several hens caged, despite the company having said it would go “cage-free” by 2025.
Animal advocates launched a protest across the country, to urge Sobeys for action, after the groceries chain made the promise in 2016, but has made little progress to deliver cage-free production, according to them.
“Interestingly, [Burnbrae Farms] is also a supplier to other major grocery stores in Canada, and the animal welfare standards that Farm Boy adheres to are actually overseen by Sobeys. So, this is now the second investigation of an egg supplier connected to Sobeys,” Nyman said.
“They actually promised that they would [go cage-free] back in 2016. They repeated that promise multiple times over the last few years, but then they haven’t actually fulfilled it yet. So, what we’re hoping to see from Farm Boy and Sobeys is a plan to get cages out of their egg supply chain, because that’s such a major source of cruelty that we’re finding.”
Nyman says while Canada doesn’t have any country-wide regulations in place to protect farmed animals, Animal Justice is advocating for more legislation that can offer animal protection, including the end of cages in egg production.
According to him, there is currently a worldwide movement where producers are diverting from using cages, and Canada is falling behind.
“Globally, cages are being eliminated. This issue has been a global trend for the last 10 to 15 years, so the Canadian grocery industry is really an outlier here,” he said.
“Right now, [farmed animals] are extremely under-protected. Our laws are very old. They’re out of step with the rest of the Western world, and so we are absolutely hoping to see more regulation of the farming industry in Canada.”
Now Toronto has reached out to Farm Boy, Sobeys, and their parent company Empire for a comment, but didn’t receive a response in time for publication.
