Veganism is a philosophy and lifestyle that seeks to exclude all forms of animal exploitation and cruelty, extending to every aspect of life, including food production. This approach is a moral stance against the commodification of animals for human use. While many people adopt a plant-based diet for health or environmental reasons, vegans exclude eggs because they are a product derived from the systematic use of animals.
The Core Philosophical Stance
The fundamental distinction between a plant-based diet and veganism lies in the underlying philosophy of animal use. While a plant-based diet focuses on consuming plants, veganism is rooted in the conviction that animals are sentient beings with inherent rights, not commodities to be exploited. Eggs are classified as an animal product, and their consumption supports the idea that hens exist to serve human interests. The core objection is not solely about visible cruelty but rather the inherent exploitation of breeding and keeping animals for their reproductive output. This principle applies even to eggs from small, backyard flocks, as consuming eggs, regardless of farming conditions, legitimizes the concept of animals as a human food source.
Welfare Concerns in Egg Production
The ethical exclusion of eggs is reinforced by the realities of the modern egg industry, which is marked by intense welfare concerns. Laying hens are selectively bred to produce between 300 and 500 eggs annually, an unnaturally high rate that causes significant physiological stress and health issues. In conventional systems, hens often live in small, crowded cages, restricting their ability to engage in natural behaviors like nesting or dust bathing. The industry also employs several painful practices:
Industry Practices
Beak trimming is a painful procedure performed on chicks to prevent injurious feather pecking in crowded conditions. Forced molting involves restricting food and water to shock the hen’s body into a new laying cycle when productivity declines.
The most significant and unavoidable welfare concern is the fate of male chicks. Since they cannot lay eggs and are not used for meat production, they are considered an economically unviable byproduct. Globally, an estimated 6.5 billion newly hatched male chicks are culled each year, typically via maceration (instantaneous grinding) or gassing (asphyxiation). This culling remains standard even in higher-welfare systems because the males serve no purpose in egg production.
Broader Environmental and Resource Impact
Beyond the ethical and welfare considerations, the environmental footprint of large-scale egg production provides another reason for exclusion. Egg production, like other forms of animal agriculture, is resource-intensive. A major concern is the feed conversion ratio, which represents the amount of feed required to produce a unit of eggs. Feed production is consistently identified as the largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the egg industry, often accounting for 70 to 80% of the total carbon footprint. Laying hen diets frequently contain imported ingredients like soy, contributing to high embedded carbon footprints due to land-use change and transportation. Intensive farming also generates significant amounts of waste. Improper manure management is a critical factor, leading to eutrophying and acidifying emissions that contaminate soil and water systems.