Sparboe Farms faces false advertising complaint over treatment of chickens

Sparboe Farms deprives its chickens of "five freedoms," according to animal rights group

​The controversy over Sparboe Farms' treatment of animals continues as an animal rights group filed a false advertising claim against the egg company today.

Sparboe was rocked by an undercover investigation and 60 Minutes report a couple weeks ago documenting abuse of chickens at some of its facilities. The company responded by firing four employees who were involved with the abuse and established new policies at its facilities to prevent cruelty to chickens.

Sparboe also reiterated its "animal code of conduct" detailing "five freedoms" all of its chickens are allowed. That "code of conduct" is being disputed by the animal rights group.

The five freedoms chickens have, according to Sparboe, are freedom from hunger and thirst; freedom from discomfort; freedom from pain, injury or disease; freedom to express normal behavior; and freedom from fear and distress.

A chicken, debeaked

​Mercy for Animals' complaint with the Federal Trade Commission calls this "false advertising." The complaint lists a number of animal rights' abuses witnessed by Mercy for Animals' undercover investigator, including the suffocation of birds and the cramped living conditions they live in, and says "not a single one of the "Five Freedoms," prominently displayed by Sparboe in an attempt to garner consumer goodwill, is true."

Sparboe Farms has been dumped by Target, McDonald's, and Lund's Foods over Mercy for Animals' video.

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