"Kreider has a notorious history of animal cruelty; in fact, its cages are so overcrowded each hen gets 54 to 58 square inches of space per bird," Josh Balk of The Humane Society of the U.S. said.
The Humane Society of the United States showed undercover video they say one of its investigators shot at Kreider's Manheim facility.
The video shows dead birds, feces, and flies.
"Study after study has shown this causes increased risk of salmonella," Balk said.
But Kreider allowed our Action Cam to take a look at its farm and says the undercover video is a gross distortion of reality and the ensuing allegations are false.
"The fact is birds die every day and the job of our workers is to remove those birds so this is just sensationalism," Kreider Farms Vice President of Sales and Marketing Dave Andrews said.
Kreider also says the video is a case of selective editing and was shot primarily in its older style chicken houses -which make up 20-percent of its current operation. Kreider says 80-percent of its chicken houses are now in state-of-the-art facilities.
Kreider says hens have 15-percent more cage space and the manure is cleared out every day in their newer facilities.
Kreider says the older facilities do meet industry standards.
"The improvements that we're coming out with in the new style houses exceed that and that's what separates us from the competition," Kreider Farms Vice President of OperationsTom Beachler said.
And Kreider says that's what the release of this undercover video is all about - jealous rivals trying to make Kreider Farms look bad.
"This had nothing to do with the safety of the eggs. The eggs were never in question and there was never any health risk," Andrews said.
Action News contacted area markets supplied by Kreider Farms.
A ShopRite spokesperson told us that while they are "very concerned," and will send their own quality assurance team to the farm tomorrow, they have been there in the past, and "have never seen any of the conditions" cited.
Weis Markets says Kreider has "provided us with a detailed, independent veterinary report showing its facilities meet inspection standards and that its birds are handled humanely."
Dennis Curtin, the director of public relations, says it will "have quality control experts who work on our behalf, follow up" with Kredier farms.
Redner's Markets, says it is "monitoring the situation," but still has confidence in Kreider Farms. Redner's gets all of its eggs from Kreider's newer facilities.
