Factory Eggs - The Bigger Picture - Food Safety or a Crime? You judge

My Pal John Quimby sent me this comment - I think it is worthy of a post:

Well Rob, the debate leading up to the election in Nov. 08 went about as expected with lots of discussion about driving the egg biz out of California. The LA Times has some of the latest information since the election at: http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/unleashed/2010/02/idaho-chicken-prepare-for-california-egg-exodus.html A couple of highlights to put thing in perspective for PEI: California is the nation's fifth-largest egg producer, with 5 billion eggs annually. Iowa is tops, with 14.3 billion. Idaho and Nevada aren't even close. So far, Debbie Murdock, executive director of the Assn. of California Egg Farmers, hasn't heard of any impending relocations to Idaho, Nevada or elsewhere. Still, Prop 2 has her members' feathers ruffled.

"We have 20 million hens in this state," Murdock said. "It's a huge expense for us to have to move. It's a huge expense for us to change our housing. A move like this, especially in this economic climate, can be very scary." The Humane Society of the United States, which backed Prop 2, says the industry is claiming the sky is falling to frighten other states from pursuing similar measures. And similar measures are coming: Michigan's governor signed legislation in October requiring more room for hens, while Ohio plans a vote next November. 

Even without new laws, retailers like Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are independently demanding suppliers treat their chickens humanely, said Paul Shapiro, the Humane Society's factory farm campaign director. "You see a shift in the marketplace, not because they are compelled to do so by law, but because they don't want to be selling a product that's criminally cruel to produce," 

Shapiro said. I'll let you ponder what the situation is in North America for any local producer when one state can produce 14.3 billion eggs. I wonder how limiting a PEI farm to 49 hens will change that?