The MFA “biohazard” crew converged yet again in response to this week’s recall of over a quarter million eggs from Ohio Fresh Eggs, feared to be contaminated with salmonella. Donning white jumpsuits, rubber gloves and face protection masks, a “biohazard crew” wielding signs with images of dead hens’ rotting corpses in cages next to dirty eggs that read, “Recall All Eggs, Choose Vegan” greeted pedestrians outside the Ohio State House in downtown Columbus.
Activists distributed emergency Vegetarian Starter Kits to the busy lunchtime crowd – alerting them to the fact that one of the best actions consumers can take to prevent animal cruelty and reduce their risk of salmonella is to adopt a healthy and compassionate vegan diet.
Recently, Cal-Maine Foods Inc., the nation’s largest egg distributor, said it is recalling 288,000 eggs that the company had purchased from supplier Ohio Fresh Eggs after a test showed salmonella at the farm.
A 2009 undercover investigation by Mercy For Animals at an egg factory farm in Maine uncovered shocking cruelty to animals. Hidden camera video of the farm shows birds living in feces, dead hens left to rot in cages with birds still producing eggs for human consumption, birds suffering from untreated open wounds, infections and broken bones, and workers breaking birds’ necks, kicking hens and throwing live birds in trash bins. The Maine egg farm is under the ownership of Jack DeCoster, who has deep financial ties to Ohio Fresh Eggs, and also owns Wright County Egg – the center of a massive egg recall earlier this year. As a result of the investigation, DeCoster pleaded guilty to 10 civil counts of cruelty to animals and paid over $130,000 in fines and restitution.
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