February 2/San Antonio, Texas/States News Service -- The Humane Society of the United States applauded San Antonio-based Whataburger for joining the national movement away from eggs from caged hens. The company has announced that it will begin switching some eggs in its supply chain to cage-free in 2011.

"Whataburger's new animal welfare policy means fewer hens crammed inside tiny cages," said Matthew Prescott, corporate outreach director of The HSUS factory farming campaign. "The Humane Society of the United States applauds the company for taking this first step toward improving animal welfare, and we look forward to seeing more progress."

Across the country, a national movement away from using eggs from hens confined in cages has taken root: Burger King, Subway, Sonic, Wendy's, Arbys, Denny's, Carl's Jr., Hardee's, Quiznos, Cracker Barrel and Golden Corral are just some of the restaurant chains that use cage-free eggs; Kraft, Sara Lee, Barilla Pasta, and Otis Spunkmeyer are switching millions of eggs in their products to cage-free; Hellmann's mayonnaise has started converting all of the 350 million eggs it uses in the U.S. to cage-free; and Wal-Mart's and Costco's private brand eggs are exclusively cage-free.

Michigan and California have passed laws to outlaw cage confinement of hens, and similar legislation is pending elsewhere. California enacted a law that requires all whole eggs sold statewide to be cage-free by 2015.

From the February 3, 2011, Prepared Foods' Daily News
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