At the end of November, five animal welfare organizations met in La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico, at a summit to form a coalition with the goal of cages being "vetoed" for laying hens in all of Mexico, the largest egg producer of Latin America and one of the top ten in the world.
I found the verb veto – the right of a person or organization to forbid, prohibit or decide against – quite strong. I say this, because I do not know which rights come first, the one of the chickens to spread their wings or of the Mexican people – one of the poorest in Latin America – to have access to a cheap animal protein like eggs.
These organizations say they are eager to work with colleagues to, once and for all, put an end to cages. Put an end to a system that has worked to produce food. Food! Not superfluous things. When will food waste, that affects so much, be put to an end? Just an example.
There is no doubt that these organizations have worked a lot with the industrial-scale users of eggs, such as Bimbo or Nestlé or Kraft Heinz (Note these are mostly multinationals with just a few domestic companies). These companies account for only a small part of the country's consumption. Will there be eagerness to work with producers? Will there be eagerness to work with the direct consumer, without resorting to sentimentalism?
There must be sanity, so that it is understood that a mistreated animal does not produce, that a stressed animal does not produce. That laying hens are birds taken care of, because if not, it would not be profitable.
It is surprising, on the other hand, that there are no answers from the authorities and the producers. Evidently, there are more important issues to resolve, such as NAFTA. But in the event that the cages are vetoed, we’ll need to even this side with the other, regulations will have to be made and the public will need to be aware of how much it will cost.
Let's not say that this will never happen, because things happen. Just take a look from now back one year. What do you think?
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