Ministry of Agriculture to Investigate Cage-Free Egg Farms Following PETA Complaint

Seoul — The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA) has just announced that it will investigate potential violations of South Korea’s animal protection laws at three cage-free egg farms. PETA submitted a complaint to the ministry following the release of PETA’s own groundbreaking investigation into the cage-free egg industry, which found that chickens were crammed by the thousands into huge, filthy sheds where many barely had room to move and all were denied opportunities to forage, bask in the sun, and engage in other natural behaviors.

In a letter to PETA, Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Song Me-Ryung stated, “We are planning to conduct inspection animal welfare livestock farms, including the three farms you reported, and take action against farms that fail to meet animal welfare standards in accordance with relevant regulations.” 

PETA’s investigators found numerous hens with missing feathers—typically the result of stress-induced self-mutilation, fighting, or health issues—and raw, irritated skin. They recorded workers handling birds roughly, including closing a fence gate on a hen’s head, crushing her neck. South Korean law states, “Animals shall live an ordinary life, maintain their natural behavior and original physical shape; freely express normal behavior without experiencing discomfort; be free from pain, injury, and disease, and shall be free from fear and distress.”

“Chickens in the egg industry live in filth and misery, whether they’re caged or packed into feces-filled, cageless barns,” says PETA President Jason Baker. “PETA thanks the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs for launching this investigation and urges it to prosecute those responsible to the fullest extent of the law.”

PETA points out that its findings are standard for the egg industry worldwide, which is why it encourages people to go vegan—not rely on humane-washed labels such as “cage-free”—since that’s the only reliable way to prevent animals from suffering in the meat, egg, and dairy industries. PETA recently released a shocking new white paper detailing the cruelty and misery that are rampant in the cage-free egg industry and showing how, in some cases, cage-free operations cause even more suffering to birds than cage-based facilities.

Chickens form complex social structures, dream when they sleep, and worry about the future, just as humans do. Mother hens begin teaching calls to their chicks before they even hatch. Chickens can live over 10 years, but in the egg industry they’re sent to slaughter when their egg production slows after just one or two years, and male chicks are killed immediately after hatching.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to eat or abuse in any other way”—opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information about PETA’s investigative newsgathering and reporting, please visit PETAAsia.com. A copy of the government’s letter to PETA and PETA’s original complaint are available upon request.