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For immediate release:
May 20, 2021
Contact:
Moira Collie 202-483-7382
Austin, TX – This morning, PETA Foundation attorneys helped to file a class action lawsuit in Texas federal court against Austin-based Vital Farms, Inc. on behalf of consumers tricked into buying eggs at an increased price due to the company’s false claims treating animals in an ethical and humane manner.
The lawsuit alleges that Vital Farms obtains incubator chickens that kill all male chicks at birth. Claims also include Vital Farms burning or cutting off highly sensitive beaks from chickens, which is the industry standard applied to stressed, highly overcrowded, withdrawn chickens. The birds are allegedly kept in an environment that makes many of them spend most or all of their time indoors rather than in “pastures,” as Vital Farms puts it in words and images.
“Each of these eggs represents the pain and suffering of tender chickens that are locked up, tortured and ultimately killed,” says PETA Foundation litigation director Asher Smith. “Vegan food is the only truly ethical choice, and PETA and compassionate consumers hope to see an end to this company’s vicious marketing ploy.”
The lawsuit also alleges that Vital Farms is causing chickens to lay far more eggs than they would naturally, putting their bodies under strain and leading to health problems such as osteoporosis. The lawsuit alleges – based on the confessions of Vital Farms founder and CEO Matthew O’Hyer – that when the chickens stop laying enough eggs to make a profit, they are sold to pet food companies and killed for cheap meat, likely together with factory counterparts. Despite all this, Vital Farms deceptively advertises its “humane treatment of farm animals” in every box, along with misleading photographs of chickens roaming free in green grass.
Nine plaintiffs, including individuals from New York; Los Angeles and Marina del Rey, California; Warren, Michigan; Crosby, Texas; and Cooper City, Florida – also represented by Richard L. Stone of Blackner Stone & Associates and Jesse Weiss of Edmundson Shelton Weiss PLLC. O’Hyer, along with the CEO and Chief Marketing Officer of Vital Farms, also appear as defendants.
PETA, whose motto is in part that “animals are not ours to eat,” is opposed to specisism, a worldview focused on human excellence. For more information please visit PETA.org or subscribe to the group on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram…
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