In a historic move, United Egg Producers (UEP)—the representative body for egg industry companies—has agreed to eliminate chick culling by 2020. After negotiations with animal-rights organization The Humane League (THL), UAP agreed to rely on in-ovo egg sexing technology, which determines the sex of chicks before birth instead of continuing the standard practice of grinding newborn male chicks alive as they do not serve a purpose in the egg-laying industry. UEP President and CEO Chad Gregory revealed that the union will implement the new practice “as soon as it is commercially available and economically feasible” industry-wide. “We are proud to have played such a pivotal role in doing away with this barbaric convention and to help pave the way to a more humane future,” THL’s Executive Director David Coman-Hidy said. “It is clear that chick culling will soon be a thing of the past in the United States.”

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