Will Kroger treat newly acquired Giant Eagle like egg suppliers’ laying hens?
CINCINNATI, Ohio––Kroger (rhymes with ogre), the 143-year-old, 2,800-store second largest grocery store chain in the U.S., with 8.5% market share, trailing only Walmart, stole food and business media headlines nationwide on July 1, 2026 by announcing a $1.65 billion deal to acquire the 208-store Giant Eagle chain.
That kind money tends to grab attention, but if the Kroger credit rating depended on keeping animal welfare promises, all it might buy would be the giant bird from the estimated 15 million laying hens used to produce the 4.3 billion eggs per year sold through Kroger stores.
“In 2016,” recalled a June 23, 2026 International Council for Animal Welfare media release, “Kroger pledged to eliminate the cage confinement of egg-laying hens by switching to an all cage-free egg supply. But the company later broke that promise, and now continues allowing extreme confinement that crams birds together so tightly, they spend their entire lives without enough room to even spread their wings.
“Food, water, & air”
“Facing recent criticism over the decision,” the International Council for Animal Welfare media release continued, “Kroger released a statement on May 13, 2026 claiming its suppliers ‘work hard to maintain a high standard of care for laying hens,’ but also stating that the company believes animals only need ‘food, water and air’ to be healthy.
“Investigative work into facilities supplying Kroger began shortly after that statement,” the International Council for Animal Welfare media release explained, “with [undercover video] footage taken between May 18 and 25 [2026] at Trillium Farms in Croton, Ohio, Automated Egg in North Manchester, Indiana, and Hi-Grade Egg Producers in Manchester, Indiana.
“Using USDA packing codes, eggs from these exact facilities were traced back to multiple Kroger locations,” the International Council for Animal Welfare said, “including a Kroger store directly across the street from the company’s corporate headquarters in Cincinnati.”
Maggots & ooze
The video footage, the International Council for Animal Welfare media release detailed, shows “birds forced to live literally on top of the rotting, mummified carcasses of their dead cage-mates; birds trapped in their cage wires unable to reach even food and water; insect and rodent infestations; birds so diseased and injured they were barely alive; and dead birds everywhere — including, in one case, in some kind of watery pit where they were left to rot, covered in maggots and ooze.”
Said International Council for Animal Welfare chief executive Chrystine Liptrot, “This disturbing footage shows exactly what happens when a giant corporation believes animals only need food, water, and air to live a healthy life.”
Despite the grandiose name, the Philadelphia-based International Council for Animal Welfare is actually a relatively new and small organization formed in 2024 by Liptrot and Katie Schloer, both former employees of the also Philadelphia-based Humane League, with 2024 revenue of $2,021,293 according to IRS Form 990.
Marriott broke cage-free pledge too
The International Council for Animal Welfare in late 2025 released “a long-form investigation created in partnership with psycho-criminologist and true crime investigator Sonya Lwu.
“Over the past several months,” the International Council for Animal Welfare announced then, “her team examined Marriott’s 12-year failure to meet its global cage-free egg commitments — a delay with real consequences for millions of hens still confined in cruel battery cages.”
Kitty Block howls
Kitty Block, chief executive of the $207-million-per-year Humane World for Animals, formerly the Humane Society of the U.S., joined the International Council for Animal Welfare in figuratively heaving rotten eggs at Kroger on July 2, 2026, one day after the Giant Eagle acquisition was disclosed.
“It’s official,” blogged Block. “Major grocery chain Kroger has failed to meet its public commitment to consumers to sell eggs sourced only from cage-free hens by 2025. The company refuses to enact a new policy on moving toward a 100% cage-free egg pledge.
“Kroger’s inaction is unacceptable,” Block declared, reminding readers that as well as owning Kroger-branded stores, and now Giant Eagle, Kroger owns “locations branded under the Harris Teeter, Mariano’s, Ralphs, Fry’s, Smith’s and Dillons names.”
Other Kroger-owned chains include Fred Meyer, King Soopers, Food 4 Less, QFC, Pick ‘n Save, City Market, Home Chef, The Little Clinic, and Roundy’s.
Korean Air circumvents pledge to quit flying gamefowl to the Philippines
Kroger, headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, is literally far from the only corporation called out on July 2, 2026 for breaking promises on behalf of poultry: 6,808 miles, to be exact, from the Korean Air global headquarters in Seoul, South Korea.
“Just two months ago, we lauded Korean Air,” opened Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy president Wayne Pacelle.
“After we presented the company with the results of our undercover investigations,” Pacelle reminded, “the airline agreed to stop accepting shipments of live roosters raised in the United States and shipping them to the Philippines to die in staged knife fights in cockfighting arenas.
“We took the company at its word”
“We took the company at its word,” Pacelle said, “that it was an unwitting transporter in a $100-million-a-year illegal trade in cockfighting birds between the two nations.”
Korean Air executives in Seoul, Pacelle recounted, “after originally reviewing the evidence our investigators assembled, told us they’d stop shipping birds on flights originating from Dallas, Los Angeles, or Atlanta and bound for Manila.
“We told you that the company was acting as a responsible corporate citizen by divorcing itself from this barbaric, illegal trade,” Pacelle said. “But we also warned the company that cockfighters would look for another route.
“Our investigators,” Pacelle disclosed, ” have now documented that traffickers are shipping birds on Korean Air flights from the United States to Vietnam and then transferring them to a different airline for the final hop to the Philippines.
“Routing changed. Commerce did not.”
“We have provided Korean Air with the evidence that American cockfighters are still using its cargo services to supply fighting birds to the Philippine pits despite its earlier commitment,” Pacelle said.
“The routing changed. The illicit commerce did not.
“If it’s wrong to ship fighting birds to Manila,” Pacelle explained, “then it’s just as wrong to ship them to Ho Chi Minh City and then hand them over to a second airline to complete the illicit transaction.
“We’re calling on Korean Air to get out of the cockfighting transport business entirely.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
“Still hunting thugs”
Here in the U.S., Showing Animals Respect & Kindness [SHARK] emailed on July 1, 2026, “Cockfighting season is winding down, but we are still hunting these thugs.
“Last Saturday,” SHARK continued, “our team was in Bryant, Alabama. We saw live birds carried into the fighting pit, and dead birds being dropped, like garbage, on the ground outside the pit.
“We called the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, who did nothing. But we have since been interviewed by a couple of local TV news stations. Media attention is an important part of these battles. We bring to light the corruption, and illegal fights happening in communities’ back yards.
“Southern states don’t typically take these matters seriously,” SHARK observed, “so we have to stay after them, and inform local citizens of the criminals being ignored by the police.”
Alabama sheriff calls for better laws
Showing Animals Respect & Kindness investigations do seem to be having some effect, even in Deep South Alabama.
Reported Shoals News, of Muscle Shoals, Alabama, on June 19, 2026, “Colbert County sheriff Eric Balentine recently briefed the County Commission on an ongoing investigation into suspected cockfighting operations within the area.
“The sheriff’s office has been monitoring the situation for about six weeks,” Shoals News said. “While deputies have successfully gained access to the private property on two occasions, they found no direct evidence of active fighting, such as blood, carcasses, or gambling money. Because the suspected activity takes place in a barn shielded from public view, gathering sufficient proof remains difficult. Deputies are also restricted from using drones for surveillance,” unlike Showing Animals Respect & Kindness, which makes extensive use of drones as private citizens, “and must have legal justification to enter the premises.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Alabama classifies cockfighting as a misdemeanor
“Current Alabama law makes enforcement difficult,” Shoals News continued. “Cockfighting is classified as a misdemeanor with a maximum fine of only $50. By contrast, dogfighting is treated as a Class C felony, which carries much steeper penalties.
Sheriff Balentine called for cockfighting to be legally reclassified “as a form of animal cruelty to allow for more severe punishment,” Shoals News said.
Cockfighting east of the Mississippi River and south of the Mason-Dixon line tends to involve mostly “good old boys” of Anglo descent and deep local family connections.
West of the Mississippi, except in Oklahoma, where cockfighters and gamefowl breeders mostly fit the southern profile, cockfighters are overwhelmingly Hispanic, and cockfights are increasingly more likely to be raided, with a high probability of law enforcement finding illegal aliens to fill deportation quotas.
Nevada & Texas busts
Among recent busts, Nye County, Nevada law enforcement on May 27, 2026 arrested alleged Pahrump cockfighting promoters Jorge Guzman Torres, Grisel Juarez Diaz, and Ignacio Juarez Gomez, impounding nearly 500 birds, cockfighting paraphernalia, “a rifle, cash and 11 counterfeit identity documents, including seven Social Security cards and four Nevada driver’s licenses,” reported Victoria Saha for KVVU television in Henderson, Nevada.
Alleged cockfighter Arnulfo Arizmendi, 41, of Monte Alto in Hidalgo County, Texas, “was booked into the Hidalgo County jail on June 1, 2026,” reported Melissa Brandi Share for KGRV radio, “after the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office found a makeshift cockfighting ring on his property.
Explained Share, “The sheriff’s office says a Texas Department of Public Safety helicopter spotted a large gathering of vehicles at a ranch near Monte Alto. When deputies arrived, they searched a warehouse on the property.
Two suspects busted in Oklahoma City
“We found roosters. We found a dead rooster in a trash can. We found some blood in one of the cages,” Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Raul Gonzalez told Share.
“Deputies also found blades believed to have been used in the fights. Witnesses told authorities they were charged $20 to watch,” Share added.
Two suspected cockfighters were even busted in Oklahoma City, reported Meghan Mosley for KOCO television on June 15, 2026, “after a traffic stop led to the discovery of bloodied roosters in their car.
“Police said the passenger admitted they had taken the birds to a cockfighting event held behind a house in southwest Oklahoma City,” Mosley summarized.
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