LANSING, Mich. (WZMQ) – This month, a law requiring Michigan retailers to sell cage-free eggs took effect. The new requirements have people worried about whether they’re the ones who will see the impacts at the checkout.
Eggs sold in Michigan will now have to be from farms with cage-free housing systems. The law took effect last month but was first passed in 2009. The law was bipartisan and was worked on by animal rights activists and industry professionals
The original timeline put the start date in 2019 but was delayed multiple times through the pandemic. Tim Boring, the director of Michigan’s Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) said they’re the ones who handle the retailer’s side to ensure a smooth transition.
Consumers have already raised concerns about what the standard could mean for egg prices in the long run, but Vic Veda with Michigan’s Retailers Association said only farms with more than 3 thousand egg-laying hens are impacted, and they’ve had over a decade to prepare.
“The producers that we’ve spoken with and our members have shared that they have felt very prepared for the law taking effect,” Veda said. “There’s always been a slight price change, a difference there, but the increases that consumers are feeling right now is much more driven due to the bird flu concerns.”
Commercial poultry farms have been dealing with an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza, HPAI, or bird flu since 2022. The epidemic has caused lower numbers of egg-laying hens across the country. Boring said six farms have reported cases in Michigan in the past few weeks, but nationwide there have been over 90 since November, impacting some 17 million birds. A majority of cases in Michigan have remained on the western and central portions of the lower peninsula.
“A lot of these effects of cage-free eggs have been built into the supply chain for a long, long time now.” Boring said. “We’re continuing to work closely with affected poultry farms here in michigan of dealing with the disease, repopulating them, and ensuring some continuity of business operations.”
Boring said any high price tags at the grocery store probably have more to do with the spike in cases and not Michigan’s free-range standard.
