Animal Welfare and Treatment Label Claims in U.S. Table Eggs: Trends in Retail Premiums and Policy Impacts, 2008–18

Overview

Animal welfare and treatment label claims are increasingly prevalent for U.S. retail table eggs. A wide inventory of claims addressing housing (e.g., cage-free, free-range, pasture-raised), exogenous substance use and feeds (e.g., no added antibiotics or hormones, vegetarian-fed), and third-party humane or comprehensive certifications (e.g., organic, United Egg Producers certified, Certified Humane, and American Humane Certified) are available to U.S. table egg consumers. Retail premiums for products bearing specialty claims are the market incentives for producers to adopt alternative production practices to meet consumer demands. Stability or consistency of premiums is essential to supporting markets for alternative production. This report examines the retail premiums, or discounts, for animal welfare and treatment claims in U.S. table eggs and assesses the dynamics of those premiums from 2008 to 2018. The report also investigates the impacts of the 2014–15 highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) outbreak and the passage of several State-level policies addressing the treatment of laying hens and the sale of eggs on the average retail premiums for animal welfare and treatment claims on table eggs sold between 2008 and 2018.