Washington BY BERNARD SHIRE meatpoultry@sosland.com A case for more space Earlier this summer, there was discussion in Congress about how much space laying hens should be allowed to have in order for them to move around and spread their wings. The debate took place at a meeting of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. During this meeting, Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) talked about legislation that would set national standards for the treatment of egg-laying hens. The legislation itself is known as the Egg Inspection Act Amendments of 2012, H.R. 3798, and S. 3239. It was introduced the same day as the Senate Agriculture Committee’s version of the 2012 Farm Bill, and is similar to legislation introduced by Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Ore.). The legislation would codify an agreement between the Humane Society of the United States and the United Egg Producers to double the size allotted to egg-laying hens. concerned about what Congress might do in the future. The National Pork Producers Council strongly opposes the bill. NPPC says passing it would set a dangerous precedent by allowing federal bureaucrats to regulate production practices on farms. NPPC says it would take away the freedom of producers to operate in ways best for their animals; make it harder to respond to demands by consumers; raise retail food prices even more; and remove consumer choice. At a time of cut-down agriculture budgets, it would redirect money and resources from enhancing food safety and maintaining US agriculture competitiveness to regulating onfarm production practices for reasons other than public and animal health, NPPC says. The association is asking Concern spreads The debate over how much space laying hens should have in their cages and coops has drawn the interest and attention of other livestock producers and processors in the meat and poultry industry because of concerns over whether they might be the next targets of animal activist groups. Feinstein’s legislation would increase the size of henhouses and require labeling of eggs so consumers would know how the hens laying them were raised- specifically, how much room the birds have to move around. It is the idea of legislation governing production practices that has agriculture and agri-business groups 16 • Meat&Poultry • September 2012 • www.MeatPoultry.comhttp://www.MeatPoultry.com