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Kinder Eggs: Tza’ar Ba’alei Chaim Questions in Modern Farming

Adapted from the writings of Dayan Yitzhak Grossman

January 23, 2025

AP News reports:

Every year the U.S. egg industry kills about 350 million male chicks because, while the fuzzy little animals are incredibly cute, they will never lay eggs, so they have little monetary value.

That longtime practice is changing, thanks to new technology that enables hatcheries to quickly peer into millions of fertilized eggs and spot male embryos, then grind them up for other uses before they mature into chicks. The system began operating this month in Iowa at the nation’s largest chick hatchery, which handles about 387,000 eggs each day.

“We now have ethically produced eggs we can really feel good about,” said Jörg Hurlin, managing director of Agri Advanced Technologies, the German company that spent more than a decade developing the SUV-sized machine that can separate eggs by sex…

The machine, called Cheggy, can process up to 25,000 eggs an hour, a pace that can accommodate the massive volume seen at hatcheries in the U.S. Besides the Cheggy machine in the small eastern Iowa city of Wilton, an identical system has been installed in Texas, both at hatcheries owned by Hy-Line North America…

Jasen Urena, executive vice president of Southern California-based company NestFresh Eggs, which plans to sell Cheggy-processed eggs, said the new system was more expensive, but any price increase on store shelves would be minimal…[1]

We have previously touched on the question of whether modern farming practices are compatible with the Torah;[2] in this article and a follow-up, we consider halachic perspectives on some specific controversial practices. (For background on the basic framework governing the duty to exercise compassion toward animals, see our articles cited in the footnotes.)

Forced molting in chickens

Chickens, like other birds, periodically shed their feathers and grow new ones in a process called molting. Some poultry growers artificially induce molting by withholding food from the chickens for an extended period, because it has the side effect of reinvigorating egg production and improving egg quality.[3]

R’ Avraham Hillel Goldberg, in his work Ha’aretz Umitzvoseha (which bears haskamos from R’ Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, R’ Shlomo Shimshon Karelitz, and R’ Binyamin Zilber, among others), unequivocally permits the practice of forced molting:

This is not an issue of negligence or cruelty—on the contrary, the farm owner is constantly concerned for the subsistence, convenience, and well-being of the animals—this practice rather involves an important farming consideration, the increasing of egg-laying. It is for this that the animals exist, and perhaps the molting improves the health of the bird and extends its life, and it certainly does not cause bodily harm…[4]

In a teshuvah written in 5732/1972, the Minchas Yitzchak (R’ Yitzchak Yaakov Weiss) records that he was asked by many rabanim about the permissibility of forced molting. He inclines to the view that from a strictly halachic perspective, forced molting is permissible, but he notes that “this still involves an ethical issue (inyan musari), because we see how concerned Razal were about causing pain to animals (tza’ar ba’alei chaim).” He concludes that there is basis for leniency even in this regard, “but I have nevertheless written to point out this concern.”[5]

The Sheivet Halevi (R’ Shmuel Wosner), however, unequivocally opposes forced molting:

But extreme cruelty as in our case, to starve animals for a extended period of time and to withhold food from them [constitutes prohibited tza’ar ba’alei chaim]…and even if we say that this is not actually within the category of tza’ar ba’alei chaim mide’Oreisa because he is doing this, in the end, for profit, nevertheless, he is acting in accordance with the custom of the non-Jews…[6] as the Rambam writes at the end of Hilchos Avadim in a similar context, that the descendants of Avraham, to whom Hakadosh Baruch Hu has granted the goodness of the Torah, are merciful to all, and cruelty and brazenness are found only among idol worshipers.[7]

And a fortiori because from the language of the Sefer Chasidim siman 666 it appears that this constitutes actual tza’ar ba’alei chaim, therefore I agree with kvod Toraso that they should refrain from this.[8]

Veal production

R’ Moshe Feinstein, in a 5742/1982 teshuvah, ruled that the confinement of veal calves and the severe and unnatural restriction of their diet were prohibited as tza’ar ba’alei chaim. (The treatment standards for veal calves in the US have greatly improved since.[9]) Although causing animals to suffer for human benefit is permitted, R’ Moshe develops in detail the principle that this benefit must be an objective and legitimate benefit, and not every human desire qualifies. He explains that the production of veal does not justify causing suffering to the calves, because there is absolutely no objective improvement to the meat, and the goal is merely to swindle people into paying more for meat that they believe is healthier and more delectable, but is actually not so.[10]

R’ Yehuda Dovid Bleich challenges the factual basis of R’ Moshe’s position:

Igros Moshe’s halakhic points are certainly well-considered. However, he seems to have been provided with less than complete information. Some consumers do indeed prefer formula-fed veal because of its whiteness. However, feeding calves formula rather than grass or grain also significantly reduces the cost of producing veal. Moreover, there is no gainsaying the fact that the taste is entirely different. The taste of grass or grain-fed veal is similar to mild beef; formula-fed veal has a much blander taste. Some consumers have a marked preference for one over the other. De gustibus non disputandum est. Whether the economic and/or gastronomical benefit is sufficient to warrant the incremental discomfort caused the calves is another matter.[11]

 

[1]Scott McFetridge. The US egg industry kills 350 million chicks a year. New technology offers an alternative. AP News. https://apnews.com/article/eggs-chicks-hens-iowa-e9ffd6ed93582a76adf3a4a16aadbf12.

[2]See my comments in response to R’ Yair Hoffman following my article Canine Hara: May Animals Be Hurt for Human Benefit? Bais HaVaad Halacha Journal. May 16, 2024. The follow-up to that article, also relevant to our topic, is Darchei Noem: May Animals Be Hurt for Human Benefit? Bais HaVaad Halacha Journal. May 23, 2024. See also Monkeys on the Run: People and Ba’alei Chaim. Bais HaVaad Halacha Journal. Nov. 21, 2024.

[3]Wikipedia contributors. Forced molting. In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Forced_molting&oldid=1193287137.

[4]Ha’aretz Umitzvoseha p. 437.

[5]Shu”t Minchas Yitzchak cheilek 6 siman 145.

[6]From Yeshayah 46:12.

[7]This is a slightly reworded citation of Hilchos Avadim 9:8.

[8]Shu”t Sheivet Halevi cheilek 2 siman 7.

[9]Tom Venesky. Veal Industry Updates Animal Welfare Standards. Lancaster Farming. https://www.lancasterfarming.com/farming-news/livestock/veal-industry-updates-animal-welfare-standards/article_618f20fc-c528-11ee-b8b0-c7606978f71a.html.

[10]Shu”t Igros Moshe E.H. cheilek 4 siman 92.

[11]Survey of Recent Halakhic Periodic Literature–Formula-Fed Veal, Tradition, Issue 40.4 (Winter 2007) p. 82.

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