Why States Are Pausing Cage-Free Mandates During Bird Flu CrisisWhy States Are Pausing Cage-Free Mandates During Bird Flu Crisis
Chickens stand in a henhouse at Sunrise Farms in Petaluma, Calif., on Feb. 18, 2025. The president and CEO of United Egg Producers, said the American egg industry has invested more than $11 billion of its own money to meet cage-free mandates. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Why States Are Pausing Cage-Free Mandates During Bird Flu Crisis

Egg farmers have spent more than $11 billion over the past decade to satisfy cage-free mandates. Now some states are reexamining those mandates.
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As the United States continues a protracted battle with the highly pathogenic avian influenza—or bird flu—that has sent egg prices soaring, some states are temporarily rolling back laws governing how egg-laying hens are housed.

Eight states currently have laws, or have passed laws that will soon become effective, requiring all eggs sold in the state to come from cage-free hens.

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