MINNEAPOLIS — Target has joined McDonald’s in dropping one of the nation’s largest egg suppliers after an animal-rights group released an undercover video of the egg producer’s farms in three states, including Colorado.
McDonald’s Corp. said Friday it had dropped Sparboe Farms as a supplier after a video by the group Mercy for Animals showed cases of animal cruelty at five facilities in Iowa, Minnesota and Colorado. The company has a location in Hudson.
Target Corp. soon followed, saying it would pull eggs from the Litchfield, Minn.-based company off its shelves. “Having been made aware of the unacceptable conditions in the company’s egg laying facilities, effective immediately, Target will discontinue its business relationship with Sparboe Farms,” Minneapolis-based Target said in a statement late Friday.
The nation’s largest retailer — Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. — also bought Sparboe eggs and has been demanding that suppliers treat their chickens humanely for years. Wal-Mart said it stopped working with Sparboe six weeks ago and that its decision had “nothing to do with animal-welfare concerns,” said Dianna Gee, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman.
She declined to discuss why Sparboe was dropped.
The Associated Press
