A new PETA Asia  exposé of Japan’s largest egg producer, ISE Foods—which is certified to supply the Tokyo Olympics—reveals hell on Earth for hens. ISE Foods claims that its eggs are “so fresh … that they can be eaten raw,” but PETA Asia’s exposé shows rampant filth, sickness, and cruelty.

ISE crams hens into crowded cages stacked on top of each other, and waste from birds above frequently drops onto those below. Birds are left to suffer and die from painful ailments and are forced to live alongside the rotting corpses of their cagemates. These gentle birds endure a lifetime of misery at ISE Foods just so the company can sell their bodily secretions—unhealthy substances that humans do not need to eat.

Hens feel pain and fear just as humans and all other animals do. But ISE Foods let dozens of hens die in terror and agony when they got trapped under food troughs and crushed. The farm’s daily report nonchalantly described these fatalities as hens getting “stuck.” Many hens who died were left to rot and decompose in their cages, and survivors had to eat and sleep just inches away from them.

ISE Foods sees hens as egg-laying machines, not individuals who think and feel.

Many hens were suffering from injuries and painful medical conditions as a result of being confined and forced to lay a tremendous number of eggs.

Some hens had prolapsed vents—reproductive tissues that protruded outside their bodies—an extremely painful condition caused by being fed an inadequate diet or by the strain of being forced to lay far more eggs than is natural. The raw, inflamed tissues were constantly scraped against the dirty wire caging, which made laying every egg excruciating.

Numerous hens also had severe abdominal swelling, another condition commonly seen in chickens exploited for their eggs. Others suffered from painful injuries or inflamed feet caused by constantly standing on sharp wire flooring that can cut into the sensitive skin between the toes.

Instead of receiving veterinary care and treatment, ill and injured chickens were simply moved to a “hospitalization cage,” where some eventually died.

Chickens are extremely clean birds who need to preen and take regular dust baths. But in the egg industry’s massive warehouses, they’re forced to live in filth and are deprived of the freedom to engage in natural behavior.

Inside the dark sheds of ISE Foods farms, the birds are packed into cages so tightly that they can’t even spread their wings. Each hen’s living space is smaller than a sheet of paper. They have no place to stand, sit, or lie down except on dirty, uncomfortable wire flooring.

The unbearable stress and frustration of this extreme confinement causes many chickens to fight with each other and even to mutilate themselves. Countless hens suffer from extensive feather loss.

Even in wealthy developed nations such as Japan, the United States, Australia, Germany, and the United Kingdom, animals used for profit always suffer. The abuse documented by the whistleblower at ISE Foods mirrors what PETA and its international affiliates have found at every egg farm they have investigated around the world.  

There’s no need to eat eggs, flesh, or anything else that’s stolen from animals. Healthy vegan foods supply all the nutrients you need to thrive—even if you’re an Olympic athlete.