Cal-Maine Foods has taken corrective action and has been cooperating with the investigations of state and county officials after the company was targeted by an animal rights activist in a video depicting mistreatment of hens at its egg production facility in Lake Wales, Florida.
The video, which Cal-Maine said shows an “isolated incident,” has surfaced on the Animal Recovery Mission (ARM) website.
According to a statement from Cal-Maine Foods, the world’s largest egg producer, each employee involved in the care and handling of hens is required to review, sign and comply with the company’s code of conduct regarding the ethical treatment of hens, which also requires employees to report any possible violations.
However, the person who filmed the video, which Cal-Maine referred to as a “former employee acting as an undercover activist,” made the choice to “disregard required farm procedures as part of his intent to misrepresent our efforts to provide proper care for our hens.”
“The employee’s job included identifying and addressing the type of issues shown on the video, and he failed to meet his job requirements,” the company said in a statement.
An employee shown deliberately mistreating a hen in the video has been terminated, the company added.
Once the video was presented to Cal-Maine Foods leaders, the company cooperated with the local sheriff’s department, as well as the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services in their investigations. Authorities were granted access to the facility in Lake Wales, and investigators told the company they did not find animal treatment conditions to be similar to those shown in ARM’s video.
“We believe that this was an isolated incident and does not reflect the ethical standards of animal care expected of all Cal-Maine Foods employees,” the company stated. “Further, we continue to work with our animal welfare team to prevent this from happening in the future.”
