Zogby Poll on American Attitudes Toward the Egg Industry
Methodology
This poll of 1,204 adults nationwide was conducted by Zogby International from September 15 through September 18, 2000. All telephone calls were made from Zogby International headquarters in Utica , N.Y. The margin of error is ±3.0. Margins of error are higher in sub-groups.
Region, party, age, race, gender, and religion.
Summary
“Questions 5–7. I am going to read to you routine practices used by the egg industry to produce eggs. For each, please tell me if you find the practice totally acceptable, somewhat acceptable, somewhat unacceptable, or totally unacceptable.”
Practice |
Acceptable |
Unacceptable |
Not sure |
Crowding 8–10 chickens in cages, about the size of an open newspaper, so tightly that they cannot stretch their wings? |
10.2 |
86.2 |
3.5 |
Starving the hens for over a week in order to induce the chickens to molt, which increases egg production. |
19.7 |
75.4 |
4.9 |
Cutting off parts of the bird's beaks so that the overcrowded. stressed chickens cannot peck at each other and cause injuries? |
35.9 |
60.4 |
3.6 |
Analysis
The overwhelming majority of adults find routine egg industry practices unacceptable . By more than eight to one (86.2% unacceptable to 10.2% acceptable), adults nationwide find the practice of overcrowding chickens into cages where they cannot spread their wings an unacceptable practice, with 69.8% saying it is totally unacceptable , while cutting off part of the beaks of chickens to prevent injury to other birds is unacceptable to 60.4%.
A majority or plurality in every sub-group finds all these practices totally unacceptable |
