BOSTON (AP) — The Massachusetts Senate has approved legislation designed to create a more secure egg supply chain and raise the state’s farm animal welfare standards to be on a par with other states.
The bill would upgrade Massachusetts’ egg production law — created by a successful 2016 ballot question — to create predictability and certainty by mirroring even stronger national United Egg Producers cage-free guidelines. Supporters of the bill say those guidelines have been adopted by leading retailers, producers, and other states.
Massachusetts voters in 2016 overwhelmingly passed what at the time was the strongest law for farm animals in U.S. history, known as Question 3.
Since then, retailers, producers, and other states mandated even stronger standards in the shift to cage-free conditions for hens. The legislation passed by the Senate on Thursday updates existing state law to meet the new standards. The bill has the backing of the animal welfare groups that supported the 2016 ballot question.
“With this bill, Massachusetts would join leading retailers, producers and other states in taking action to prevent cruelty to farm animals,” Democratic Senate President Karen Spilka said in statement. “Upgrading conditions for egg-laying hens will keep our farms in line with cage-free standards and ensure the stability of Massachusetts’ egg supply.”
The bill now heads to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.
–Associated Press
For more articles out of New England, click here.
RECOMMENDED ARTICLES
WASHINGTON — Should Californians be able to require higher welfare standards for farm animals that are raised in other states if products from those animals are to be sold in California? The U.S. Supreme Court will confront that question when it hears oral argument in National Pork Producers Council v. Ross on Oct. 11, 2022. Pork […]
BROOMFIELD, Colo. — Soon all eggs sold at Colorado grocery stores will be from cage-free hens. The Colorado general assembly passed HB20-1343 to advance animal welfare by requiring Colorado’s egg-laying hens to be housed in a cage free environment. Additionally, the act also prohibits business owners from selling or transporting for sale in Colorado egg products […]
BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Charlie Baker signed a bill Wednesday that sets new standards for the egg industry, averting what the industry had projected would be a scarcity of eggs available for sale in Massachusetts in 2022. Lawmakers had approved the legislation aimed at changing standards to a 2016 voter-approved animal welfare law that required […]
SIOUX CENTER, Iowa — Iowa Cage-Free, part of the Versova family of companies, has acquired the assets of Rembrandt Foods’ Thompson, IA, cage-free farm. Versova Management (Versova), headquartered in Sioux Center, IA, will assume day-to-day feed mill, production and processing operations for the 240-acre Thompson farm, which houses one million cage-free hens and pullets, and […]
