Campus caterer switches to cage-free eggs

Concordia’s cafeterias will start serving cage-free eggs next month, after Chartwells, the caterer serving both the Loyola and downtown campuses, announced that it would reduce its use of eggs coming from hens held in barren battery cages.
While the change will affect all food made with, the cafeterias will not be able to rely solely on cage-free eggs for all its products due to the scarcity of cage free liquid-eggs.
Approximately 98 per cent of the eggs produced in Canada come from hens that undergo intensive confinement in cages, known as battery cages. Hens are forced to lay eggs in spaces often smaller than a sheet of loose-leaf paper. The densely populated and restrictive living spaces are reported by animal rights’ groups to be unsanitary and deeply affecting of chickens’ physiology and natural behaviours. Naturally, chickens are foraging animals that range about in its habitat.
“Last year, we were approached by students who were concerned and asked us to consider moving to cage-free eggs,” said Cindy Harris, Director of Communications for Compass Group Canada, the parent company of Chartwells.
Jacque Webster, who was then the Senior Food Service Director for Chartwells at Concordia, explained that a student from the Animal Rights Association came up to him and explained to him the issue of caged hens.
“Once I realized that this was a relatively easy change to make and that it would be important to many of our customers, it was obvious that we should investigate it further,” said Webster, who now works in the Marketing, Culinary and Communication Department at Chartwells.
Chartwells had already started to switch to cage-free eggs at other locations. “And so, it was only a matter of logistics to make the change for Concordia,” added Webster.
Consequently, with the support of the Humane Society International – one of Canada’s largest animal protection organizations – Chartwells decided to implement the cage-free shell egg policy in January 2008.
Before the plan went ahead, Webster decided to ask more students their opinions about the issue. Cage-free eggs are more expensive than regular eggs; the price of items that include shell eggs will increase by 20 cents to cover additional cost.
Chartwells needed to know if students would be willing to pay a little extra. “We spoke to students in focus groups, and we heard that students did think that this was an important issue and that it was worth paying a little extra,” concluded Webster.
Rebecca Aldworth, Director of Animal Program for Humane Society International Canada, and also a Concordia alumnus, is thrilled by Concordia’s initiative.
“Concordia’s decision to switch to cage-free eggs is one of the most significant advancement for farm animals that has happened. It is a terrific way to help students become aware of the plight of caged hens, and encourage schools and the Canadian public to follow suit,” said Aldworth.
So far the non-profit organization has worked with several food service providers, and more than 300 schools across North America have made the shift to cage free eggs.