Berkeley vegan activist covers herself in poop outside SoMa Trader Joe's in protest

The following photo contains content that some viewers may find disturbing. The following photo contains content that some viewers may find disturbing. Image 1 of / 35 Caption Close Berkeley vegan activist covers herself in poop outside SoMa Trader Joe's in protest 1 / 35 Back to Gallery

A UC Berkeley student and activist with the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere covered herself in animal feces outside a San Francisco Trader Joe's on Thursday morning.

The woman, Cassie King, was protesting at the store on Fourth Street in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood over conditions at farms that supply eggs to Trader Joe's. A recent investigation by Direct Action Everywhere allegedly found starving chickens living amid heaps of their own waste at a supplier in Michigan.

Trader Joe's has denied that the farm in question is a Trader Joe's supplier.

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"The supposedly 'humane' eggs sold at Trader Joe's come from birds who lived their entire lives in piles of waste," King said, adding that deceptive labels "mislead consumers into paying for cruelty."

MORE: Berkeley butcher shop hangs sign decrying animal slaughter to stop group's protests

"We have spoken with Dutch Farms, who supplies three offerings of eggs to our stores in the Midwest, and have been assured that the footage shown in the video is not from a farm that supplies eggs to Trader Joe's," Trader Joe's spokeswoman Kenya Friend-Daniel said in a statement.

"At Trader Joe's, we hold our suppliers to high standards for animal care and food safety and expect for them to treat animals in accordance with all legal animal welfare regulations," she added. "If we were to discover that any Trader Joe's supplier is not meeting our expectations, we would take immediate action, up to and including terminating our relationship."

Direct Action Everywhere's attention-grabbing demonstrations crop up frequently around the Bay Area. The activists have stormed the dining area at iconic Berkeley eatery Chez Panisse, protested turkey sales at an East Bay Whole Foods around Thanksgiving time, and pushed for the ban on sales of new fur that was approved by the San Francisco Board of Supervisors this week.

Filipa Ioannou is an SFGATE staff writer. Email her at fioannou@sfchronicle.com and follow her on Twitter