February 22, 2005

Mr. David B. Dillon, Chairman and CEO
Kroger Corporation
1014 Vine Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202-1100

Dear Mr. Dillon:

I contact you today on behalf of the over 4,000 members of the non-profit Ohio animal advocacy organization Mercy For Animals.

As you are aware, The Kroger Company Policy on Business Ethics states “customers deserve clear and accurate advertising that provides useful information to assist in the purchase decision.” I am confident that you truly believe this written policy statement and work hard to ensure that it is diligently followed. Therefore, I am eager to bring to your attention the unclear and inaccurate “Animal Care Certified” (ACC) logo that appears on all Kroger brand egg cartons. As a corporation that cares deeply about its integrity, I am confident you will be compelled to remove this seal once you learn the facts regarding the deceptive ACC seal.

The Better Business Bureau, whose goal is to “foster truth and accuracy in national advertising,” twice ruled that the ACC logo was “misleading” to consumers. The BBB states: “it conveyed the message to consumers that the eggs in cartons bearing the ‘Animal Care Certified’ seal were produced by hens raised under caring and humane conditions when that was not the case.”

The United Egg Producers (UEP), the primary egg industry trade association, created the “Animal Care Certified” voluntary program in 2000. Despite the lofty-sounding name, the so-called “Animal Care Certified” guidelines permit producers to:

• Confine birds in cages so small they can’t even flap their wings, let alone engage in other natural behaviors such as nesting, perching, dust bathing, and foraging.
• Starve birds to the point where they’ve lost 30-percent of their bodyweight in order to manipulate the egg-laying cycle.
• Burn off parts of the beaks of chicks without painkiller in order to reduce the impact of stress-induced aggression and prevent feed spillage, thereby lowering feed costs.

The Humane Society of the United States, the nation’s largest animal protection organization with more than 8.5 million members and constituents, has also condemned the ACC programs and label by stating: “[The UEP guidelines] seem designed more to mollify consumers than to address the extreme animal welfare abuses that have become the norm in this industry.”

Mercy For Animals recently sent undercover investigators into Ohio Fresh Eggs, formerly Buckeye Egg Farm, the state’s largest ACC egg farm. OFE’s eggs are sold by Hillandale Farms. Our investigators documented:

• Hens suffering from severe feather loss, covered in feces, crammed in file drawer sized cages with six other birds
• Corpses left to rot in cages next to birds still producing eggs for human consumption
• Hens suffering from untreated bloody scratches, open wounds, and oozing eye and sinus infections
• Birds trapped in the wire of their cages left to die from dehydration & starvation
• A live hen thrown away in a trashcan

These horrific conditions are not isolated cases of abuse. Rather, they are standard and accepted within the egg industry. Multiple investigations at ACC egg farms in the past few years have uncovered similar conditions.

In fact, prominent veterinarians, poultry scientists, and avian specialists have all spoken out against the abusive practices allowed under the UEP’s ACC guidelines. See the enclosed Expert Opinion document to read what they have to say.

Furthermore, a poll conducted by Zogby International found that 70% of consumers found the ACC logo misleading once the cruel practices it allows (confining hens in tiny battery cages, cutting off a portion of their beaks, and starving them to induce molting) were revealed. See the enclosed document which gives the complete results of this opinion poll.

Recently, on Tuesday, February 15, 2005, a Washington, DC based animal protection organization and four egg consumers filed a lawsuit against Giant Foods, Brookville Supermarket, and Lehman’s Egg Service alleging that the ACC logo stamped on egg cartons deceives shoppers by conveying a false message of humane animal care. In the lawsuit, consumers who purchased ACC-labeled eggs claim they were under the impression they were supporting humane animal treatment, and then later learned of the abusive conditions permitted under the ACC program.

If you believe that your valued customers deserve accurate advertising information, I am confident that you will take into the account the overwhelming evidence that the ACC logo that appears on Kroger brand eggs is nothing less than consumer fraud. We respectfully urge the Kroger Corporation to end the use of the “Animal Care Certified” logo on its eggs cartons, as well as those of your nearly two dozen other store brands.

We also urge Kroger to become an industry leader on animal welfare issues by taking real steps to eliminate animal cruelty at your suppliers. It is time that Kroger addresses this important issue by implementing the following changes:

• Refuse to purchase eggs from suppliers who confine hens in battery cages, a practice so cruel it has been banned in the entire European Union,
• Eliminate the barbaric practice of beak-trimming, which leads to both acute and chronic pain, &
• Eliminate the cruel practice of “forced molting,” something fast food giants McDonald’s, Burger King, and Wendy’s as well as grocery chain Safeway have already done. Forced molting involves starving hens for up to 12 days to induce another laying cycle. Poultry researcher Dr. Ian Duncan calls the technique “a barbaric practice which doubles mortality in the flock while it is going on and leads to great suffering in all the hens involved.”

Thank you for your time and attention to this important issue. We are eager to meet with you at your convenience to discuss these matters further. Please do not hesitate to contact me at (866) MFA-OHIO. I look forward to your prompt response so we can properly notify our members and the public on Kroger’s position.

Sincerely,

Nathan Runkle
Executive Director

Enclosed:

1. Photos taken inside Ohio’s largest “Animal Care Certified” egg farm.
2. Video footage taken inside Ohio’s largest “Animal Care Certified” egg farm.
3. Expert opinions regarding the “Animal Care Certified” program.
4. BBB’s National Advertising Division’s official press release referring the “Animal Care Certified” logo case to the Federal Trade Commission.
5. Zogby poll on Americans’ attitudes toward “Animal Care Certified” eggs.