Sodexo offers option of cage-free eggs, for a price

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. — Among complaints and requests for change at the dining halls, one idea is starting very small: with eggs.

This month, Binghamton University’s Sodexo Dining Services offered the student body the option to switch from battery-cage to free-range eggs. Battery-cage egg production confines the hens to small spaces in poor conditions, and free-range production gives the hens more room.

The push for change came in part from the Humane League, a national farm animal advocacy organization, which is running a campaign asking Sodexo to phase out the use of all liquid eggs produced from battery-caged hens.

According to the Humane Society’s website, battery-cage farms cram egg-laying hens into 67 square inch wire cages, which is less room than a sheet of computer paper and generally prohibits hens from being able to spread their wings. This agricultural practice is illegal in the European Union and in several states in the United States, such as Michigan, California and Florida.

In the past, the Humane League has pressured large dining service provider Delaware North companies to transition to only cage-free eggs in their facilities and helped convince Starbucks to phase out numerous controversial agricultural practices, including the use of similar cages for chickens and pigs.

According to Taylor Ford, campaign coordinator for the Humane League, the League reached out to Sodexo in November of 2014 to make a similar commitment, but Sodexo was unresponsive.

“In 2012, after working with animal protection groups, Sodexo produced a commitment to phase out battery cage shell eggs, but we are campaigning for liquid eggs,” Ford said. “Liquid eggs account for the vast majority of eggs used in their operations.”

According to James Ruoff, a representative for Sodexo at BU, a major concern for the company is that changing its production will make liquid eggs more costly and harder to obtain. If these changes are made, the production of liquid eggs will take significantly longer and customers will have to pay more for virtually all of their food to make up for the extra cost of cage-free egg raising.