Posted on Tuesday, March 21 2006 - 12:34 AM - On Campus

As of March 28, 2006, the start of Dartmouth Spring Term, all of the shelled eggs served by the College dining services will be provided by cage free hens from Pete and Jerry's Organic Farm in Monroe, N.H. Dartmouth consumes roughly 6,480 eggs per week, more than 300,000 eggs per year. Dartmouth is one of only 80 U.S. colleges and universities to switch to cage free eggs and the first among the Ivy League to do so, according to representatives from the Humane Society of the United States.

R. Tucker Rossiter, Director of College Dining Services, worked extensively with Sustainability Coordinator Jim Merkel to make the switch. Rossiter acknowledged that cage free eggs are marginally more expensive than the “battery eggs” produced by chickens living in small, tightly-packed cages, but added that the price increase was not significant when compared to the benefits of buying cage free.

“It's the right thing to do,” said Rossiter. “It's a better product; it's better treatment for the chickens; and it's better to buy local.” Rossiter added that in a blind taste test, he and other dining services personnel preferred the taste of the cage free eggs.

Paul Shapiro, Factory Farming Campaign manager for The Humane Society of the United States, said of the College's decision, “Dartmouth's switch to cage-free eggs is a positive statement that animal welfare is an important part of social responsibility. We applaud Dartmouth's support for improved animal welfare practices, and we encourage other schools to follow its example.”