Survey of U.S. Airlines Use of Eggs in their In-flight Meal Service

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1 Survey of U.S. Airlines Use of Eggs in their In-flight Meal Service Introduction Throughout the world billions of eggs from cage-keeping systems are used in fresh and processed food every year. In the absence of labelling for both fresh eggs and processed/hidden eggs, consumers are not provided the opportunity to make a conscious decision to choose products that were produced in an animal-friendly manner. FOUR PAWS International (FPI) is carrying out an international campaign focusing on humane production standards for eggs, particularly those used in airline catering, to raise awareness of this topic among consumers. One of our goals is to see an end to the keeping of egg-laying hens in cages, while also providing information to consumers on where the eggs they consume are produced. Today in the United States there are almost 300 million egg-laying hens used to produce over 80 billion eggs each year. Over 90% of these hens spend their entire lives in conventional cages, also known as battery cages. A battery cage is typically home to six hens sometimes more, leaving each hen with around an ipad s worth of personal space. This lack of space keeps hens from spreading their wings and performing other important natural behaviors such as foraging, nesting, perching, or dustbathing. Hens are often injured by the constant friction against the cage and feeble attempts to stretch out can result in their legs, wings, and necks becoming trapped and broken in the cage s wire frame. In a conventional cage-keeping facility, battery cages are stacked inside a barn, side by side and one on top of another, allowing for thousands to millions of hens to be kept in one location where they never experience natural sunlight or much movement their entire lives. Why airlines? Airlines serve thousands of meals to passengers every day. Unfortunately, this food often comes with animal suffering because it contains eggs from hens kept in cages. When airlines switch to cage-free eggs they are speaking for and supporting housing systems that give laying hens a better life. Airlines are a worthwhile ally because of their international sourcing. If they ask their caterers and suppliers all over the world (including within the U.S.) to provide them with cage-free eggs, they can affect change for laying hens within and outside their own continents. These actions in turn affect how millions of hens are housed globally. Over 3 billion people fly somewhere every year. There are nearly a 100,000 flights per day globally and 8.6 million passengers are served a meal on board daily. In the U.S. alone, airlines operate some 27,000 flights for over 2 million passengers every day. Worldwide these numbers

2 are only expected to grow. Imagine how many egg-laying hens lives are affected by the meal choices airlines make. Research Methods For this campaign, FPI surveyed the airline industry worldwide in order to provide our constituency and the general public with objective information on food quality choices airlines have made. In order to do this, FPI selected countries that had offices with campaign teams available to conduct the survey. Each team researched the airlines based in their respective countries and contacted the appropriate people in executive management at the airlines headquarters. For the majority of countries, the number of airlines based in the country was small enough to include all of them in the survey. For other countries like the U.S., an online analysis of the airlines industry was conducted to select the largest airline companies in the U.S. based on the number of routes, flights, passengers, carriers, and revenue generated. After the airlines were selected, three rounds of inquiry letters were mailed to the contact people, which included the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for each airline. Besides the CEO, one or two additional contact people were chosen for the five major airlines: American, Delta, JetBlue, Southwest, and United. To ensure the letters reached their destination, they were all mailed out with Delivery Confirmation notifications; the first round of letters included Return Receipt confirmations. For the airlines that did respond, they received follow-up s and phone calls in order to clarify their responses, request additional information, and/or discuss possibilities for making the switch to cage-free eggs. The second and third letter were only sent to airlines that did not respond previously. The first letter was sent to all the airlines on April 14, The second letter was sent on May 7th, and the third letter sent on June 16th. The first and second letter included the same requests for information: We would like to gain an insight into the type of eggs that are currently being used in airline catering (cage-free, organic, free-range, pasture-raised, or caged eggs). Therefore, we would very much appreciate it if you could answer the following questions 1. Which eggs are you using for meals in your airline catering (including fresh eggs, eggs in powder form, and liquid form)? 2. If you are providing food using eggs from caged hens, are you interested in setting a phase-out timeline for ending the use of these type of eggs in the near future (if you have not already done so)? The second letter also stated:

3 Since this is our second attempt to contact you, if we do not receive any answer we will have to assume that you are likely using caged eggs for your airline catering and are not interested in phasing them out. The third letter served as a notification letter, allowing them a final chance to respond while also informing them that: After not receiving any responses to our letters, we can only assume that (blank) Airlines likely does not apply animal welfare standards in its catering choices and is not interested in sharing this information. One U.S. airline, Virgin America, has already committed to using cage-free eggs. Therefore instead of a survey letter, they were mailed a letter on May 7th that asked: 1. Do you use cage-free eggs in all meals served on board, including any processed eggs used in foods like bakery items? 2. Are the cage-free eggs and egg products sourced from one of these keeping systems: Regular Cage-Free, Free-Range, Pasture-Raised, or Certified Organic? 3. Are the cage-free eggs certified by any third-party auditor programs such as Certified Humane, Animal Welfare Approved, American Humane Certified, or Food Alliance Certified? 4. Did Virgin America require a switch for cage-free products from a catering partner and the catering partner in turn negotiated with its own suppliers? Or does Virgin America work directly with the suppliers? All the letters were updated each time for the changing deadlines and were sent only after the previous letter s deadline had passed, allowing the airlines a minimum of two weeks to respond by , phone, or mail to each request. Results In total, 38 international and national airlines from seven countries were contacted for the survey. The countries included Austria, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, The Netherlands, United Kingdom, and the United States. Of the 38 airlines, 12 are based in the U.S., which are American Airlines, Alaska Airlines, Delta Air Lines, Frontier Airlines, Hawaiian Airlines, JetBlue Airlines, Skywest Airlines, Southwest Airlines, Spirit Airlines, Sun Country Airlines, United Airlines, and Virgin America. Of the 12 airlines contacted, 6 responded to our letters. After the first letter was mailed on April 14th, Frontier and Southwest were the first two airlines to respond on April 22nd. The third airline to respond was Delta on April 23rd and United on May 8th.

4 The second letter was mailed to eight airlines on May 7th. Only JetBlue responded to the letter on June 10th. The seperate letter for Virgin America was also mailed at this time, they never responded. The third and final letter was mailed to six airlines on June 16th. Only Alaska Airlines responded to the letter on July 6th. For the 6 airlines that responded: Alaska Airlines serves a liquid, cage egg product in select in-flight meals. However, they have asked their caterer to explore a cage-free alternative. Alaska Airlines will continue to discuss the possibility of going 100% cage-free in the future and will continue working with their caterers towards a sustainable long-term solution. Delta Airlines serves cage-free eggs to their first/business class passengers on all domestic flights, which accounts for 99% of meals served on domestic flights. For meals served on international flights, many of their suppliers including their largest meal provider use cage-free eggs, however, some other suppliers use cage eggs. Delta Airlines cannot currently commit to going 100% cage-free because of supply uncertainties and limitations, yet they are interested in pursuing that possibility in the future. Frontier Airlines does not use any fresh or processed eggs in their in-flight meals. JetBlue Airlines has one snack item, chocolate chip cookies, which is likely made with processed cage eggs. They also serve cage eggs in one of their in-flight meals offered on certain domestic flights. However, due to the limited number of fresh meals they serve eggs are a very low volume item for them compared to other animal products they use. In their five-year strategy plan towards using more natural, organic, and local food items, they are presently focusing on animal welfare and sustainability issues for their highest volume animal products. And thanks to our inquiry they may now consider fresh cagefree eggs as part of their plan in Southwest Airlines does not provide in-flight meals, and the snacks they serve are not made with processed eggs. United Airlines serves cage-free eggs to their first/business class passengers on flights within North America. For economy class passengers on many of the international flights departing from the U.S., they also use cage-free eggs in their egg dishes. The cage-free eggs are a combination of pasture-raised and free-range. They use liquid eggs at most locations worldwide. United Airlines cannot currently commit to or guarantee going 100% cage-free because of supply uncertainties and limitations. They continue to encourage suppliers to provide cage-free eggs for them when possible.

5 For the five airlines that did not respond to any of our letters American, Hawaiian, Spirit, Skywest, and Sun Country, we can only assume that if any fresh eggs or processed eggs are used in their in-flight meals or snacks they are likely from cage eggs. Virgin America also never responded to our letters, however, they have been quoted publically stating they only serve cage-free eggs in their in-flight menu. They are also the only airline that flies exclusively within North America. Summary and Conclusions Although only one of the twelve airlines contacted exclusively serves cage-free eggs, FPI is encouraged by the fact that two of the largest airlines in the U.S., Delta and United, have already begun to serve cage-free eggs on select flights and are open to doing more in the future. We were also pleased to hear that our letters brought awareness to this issue for many of the airlines and addressed a topic that had not been considered before, therefore opening up a dialogue between FPI and the airlines and within the company itself concerning the importance of animal welfare standards and the need for its consideration. FPI believes that companies have a corporate social responsibility to improve the welfare conditions of animals that are used in the production process for their products and to provide consumers with quality food. As previously mentioned, leading airlines such as Virgin America and KLM Royal Dutch Airlines have already committed to using only cage-free eggs for their catering. This has been positively received by their passengers and demonstrates their commitment to animal welfare as part of their corporate social responsibility policy. Airlines travel different sets of routes and work with different catering companies that supply the in-flight meals. Airlines can go cage-free by asking their caterers to supply them with cage-free egg products. One option is for airlines to first ask the caterers they work with in the country where their national headquarters is based, followed by their suppliers on flights within the continent, ending with their caterers that supply their international flights. FPI knows that making a complete switch to cage-free eggs will not happen overnight, but it can definitely happen in stages, and we consider the airlines intention to do so to be an incredibly important part of that process. To learn more about the use of eggs in the airline industry and see which international airlines are making strides to become completely cage-free, please visit our #eggcheck website!