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Investigation Finds Serious Food Safety Risks and Severe Animal Cruelty at Key Starbucks Supplier

Caged hens at Gemsun Farms in Cuenca, Batangas

An undercover investigation into the key egg supplier to Starbucks in the Phillippines has found severe animal cruelty and food safety risks.

The video footage, taken recently at  Starbucks supplier Gemsun Farms in Cuenca, Batangas, in the Philippines, shows:

  • Hens packed so tightly in tiny cages they had feathers scraped off, injuries, and body deformities
  • Feces covering cage bars and equipment and smeared on the bodies of hens and on eggs, with excrement piled up right next to birds and eggs
  • Dead hens are left to rot next to living hens laying eggs for human consumption
  • Wild animals are able to freely enter the farm, increasing the risk of avian flu and other diseases

“Starbucks is discriminating against customers in the Philippines, putting them at increased food safety risks, in addition to allowing severe animal cruelty in their supply chain,” said Dana Taborosi, Campaign Manager at Equitas, the international consumer protection and animal welfare organization that released the investigation.

“Starbucks has committed to sourcing only cage-free eggs at its corporate-owned stores in the U.S. and several other markets, but the company continues to source eggs from battery cage egg farms for its locations in the Philippines. The company seems to think Filipino customers don’t deserve the same quality and safety as consumers in the U.S..”

Nearly every other leading international coffee chain has set a timeline for shifting to use only cage-free eggs in the Philippines and globally, including Dunkin Donuts, Krispy Kreme, Tim Hortons, Costa Coffee, illy, and others. The majority of the world’s 25 largest QSR chains have also made commitments to use only cage-free eggs in the Philippines and globally, including Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, and Papa John’s.

The European Food Safety Authority and a dozen international research teams have found that caged egg farms such as those supplying Starbucks have up to 33 times greater risk of contamination from key salmonella strains. Battery cage egg production has been banned or is being phased out in over 30 countries, including the entirety of the European Union, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada, and India. In the U.S., numerous states including Washington, Oregon, California, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Rhode Island have also banned caged egg production or the sale of caged eggs.

“It’s reprehensible that here in the Philippines Starbucks is feeding customers eggs from caged hens when caged egg production is so cruel and unsafe it has been banned in Starbucks’ home state of Washington,” added Taborosi. “We urge Starbucks to treat all customers equally and to catch up with every other leading coffee chain by setting a timeline for ending the use of caged eggs in the Philippines and globally.”

High-resolution photos and video from the investigation can be viewed here.

Written by dotdailydose

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