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Phoenix666 [soylentnews.org] writes:

McDonald's is giving itself an entire decade for its egg suppliers to comply with the cage-free directive [treehugger.com], but Shapiro said he thinks the changeover will be much swifter. Herbruck, a major egg supplier to McDonald's, Shapiro said, is located in Michigan, where a law is already on the books forcing egg producers to go cage free by 2019.

Egg producers will likely switch to what is known as cage-free aviary systems, which are multi-tiered cages that give hens more freedom to engage in natural behaviors. It's not as if these aviary systems are like the great outdoors - hens are still closely crowded in big indoor barns, but they do have the freedom to move around up and down through the different levels of the aviary.

Shapiro said the Humane Society of the United States has been working with McDonald's to get them to go cage free, and that the organization had two other 'wish list' goals: the first was for Mickey D's to discontinue the use of gestation cages for pigs, which the fast food behemoth already pledged to do.

Corporations can make such decisions for cynical reasons, but it is possible for good to result anyway. Walmart's pledge to sell 100 million CFL (Compact Fluorescent Light) bulbs [slate.com] is cited for its role in putting an end to inefficient incandescent light bulbs.

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