On 9th September 2026, PETA Foundation announced that its attorneys filed two class-action lawsuits that day against the US organic-egg producer Pete and Gerry’s, one in New York and one in California, on behalf of consumers who paid higher prices for eggs marketed as “free range” and “pasture raised.” Drone footage of two of the company’s supplier farms sits at the centre of both cases.
The lawsuits state that Pete and Gerry’s packs around 20,000 hens into crowded sheds, giving each hen 1.5 square feet of floor space or less, which the filings say makes it nearly impossible for many hens to move, let alone reach an exit. The footage, filmed over several hours on a clear day, a time when hens should have been outdoors according to the company’s own claims, showed that no hens left the barn at the first farm and only a handful did at the second, contradicting packaging images depicting hens in green fields and the company’s website claim that the birds are “free to frolic under sunny skies.”
According to the lawsuits, Pete and Gerry’s policies allow barn doors to stay closed during poor weather, certain stages of egg laying, or when bird flu risk is elevated, meaning many hens may never go outdoors at all. The filings allege that the company exploits consumer preference for eggs marketed as “humanely raised” to charge higher prices, despite conditions inside the sheds being far from kind. This is a good example of humane-washing.
Tracy Reiman, President of PETA, said in a press release, “Consumers are misleadingly told that by buying egg brands making ‘pasture raised’ or ‘free range’ claims, they’re avoiding some of the most notorious factory farm abuses, like hens crammed together by the tens of thousands. PETA urges everyone to remember that the easiest way to prevent hens from suffering at all is by choosing vegan eggs or no eggs at all.”
