From the $1 canned goods to our taste tester’s personal favorite dessert, the carrot cake sandwich cookies, there’s a running list of “must buy” items at Aldi. The eggs, however, aren’t one of them. At least, not the Goldhen-labelled ones that come from Rose Acre Farms, which, apart from its involvement in one of the largest egg recalls of the last century, has also come under controversy for its animal welfare abuses. The company first received media attention in April 2018 — its eggs were linked to a salmonella outbreak that spread to 10 states and infected 45 people, 11 of whom were hospitalized, leading to a record-breaking recall of more than 200 million eggs. And Aldi’s egg supplier has only continued to make headlines.
In 2019, just when the drama involving its facilities had seemingly come to an end, Rose Acre Farms did the unthinkable by going on public record against the state of California’s animal rights regulations. Its letter to the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CFDA) pushed back on the amount of space hens required to ensure they weren’t “confined in a cruel manner” and attempted to redefine the definition of an “egg-laying hen” from “any female domesticated chicken” to “sexually mature” chickens so as not to have to apply the regulations to all of animals in its facilities, among other questionable requests. With it, Rose Acre Farms opened the doors to prior investigations into its practices — and people did not like what they found.
Rose Acre Farms’ messy past bleeds into the present
There’s a saying: “People who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones.” But, apparently, neither should people who run egg-laying hen farms with dirty practices. After its public display against the CDFA, Rose Acre Farms put itself back into the spotlight, drawing specific attention to the FDA’s investigation of its facilities the year prior, which found dirty chicken houses and rodent infestations at Rose Acre Farms’ facilities. Other findings echoed those from the Humane Society’s 2010 undercover investigation, which showed video evidence of hens kept in filthy conditions (some next to rotting corpses), hens suffering from broken bones, and hens with prolapsed uteruses, eventually leading to a lawsuit.
Given that the FDA found similar conditions at its facilities eight years later, Rose Acre Farms didn’t take its allegations seriously — and, as evidenced in its letter to the CDFA, it has only continued to cut corners. Six years later, in January 2025, Rose Acres Farms detected bird flu at its farm in Seymour, Indiana. While it claimed to be working with the state to monitor its facilities, it has only raised more questions about an already questionable operation. So while egg prices are fluctuating and it can be tempting to buy the cheapest option — those being ALDI’s Goldenhen eggs — given the farm’s history, you may want to consider buying your eggs elsewhere. For that, read up on Tasting Table’s tips for choosing the highest-quality eggs.
