The European way of housing egg-laying hens is accepted by the American Humane Association’s “Humane Certified” program to replace so-called “battery cages” here.  Brownfield learned at the International Poultry Expo that U.S. companies are beginning to flock to it. 

AHA Vice President of Farm Animal Programs Tim Amlaw says the  “enriched colony cage system” meets his organization’s high standards. “We really worked hard over the last few years to look at where Europe had been, to maybe find a solution for California Prop. 2,” Amlaw says. “And certainly then you have Ohio with their rule-making authority there and some other areas trying to be more proactive.”

Amlaw tells Brownfield the enriched cages house 60 hens, a smaller population than cage-free operations and it meets the hens’ needs for perching, privacy and scratching and those of producers needing to comply with stricter requirements.

“Ours is the main-stream, middle-of-the-road kind of concept of finding solutions for everybody,” says Amlaw. ”It starts with the animals, it works for the producers and to the consumers and ultimately, it also has to work for the pocketbook.”

 J.S. West of California is using the enriched system approved by the American Humane Association.  Over the next year, he says, there will be 50 to 100 more egg companies using them.  The largest grocery retailer in the nation, WalMart, endorses them for their egg suppliers.