Latest news with #CameronWhitehead
Forbes
17-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Why Quality Eggs And Animal Welfare Matters More Amid The Avian Flu Crisis
Eggs on the supermarket shelves might look the same, but crack one open and the differences are obvious: Premium eggs have harder shells, brighter yolks, firmer egg whites and a superior flavor. The reason? Healthy hens. Pete & Gerry's, one of the largest premium egg producers in the country, partners with almost 300 family farms where hens can roam, scratch in the dirt, eat bugs and relax in lush pastures. There are no crowded barns and no shortcuts. At a time when avian influenza, or bird flu, is making headlines, smaller scale farms and humane practices have become even more important. Pete & Gerry's hens roam around an expansive pasture, a farming model that has helped protect hens from avian influenza. 'We've always been committed to hen welfare,' says Phyllis Rothschild, chief marketing officer for Pete & Gerry's, the nation's top producer of organic, pasture-raised and free-range eggs. 'We like to say that we were the first to do it better, and we're still doing it best.' Doing it better matters. Consumers care about where their food comes from and consider animal welfare and ethical production practices when making purchasing decisions. Embracing a family farm model and raising hens on pasture also protects birds from avian influenza. Outbreaks of the disease, which causes coughing, sneezing, lack of coordination and, often, sudden death, occur far less often in free-range and pasture-raised hens. In fact, almost 100% of avian influenza outbreaks happened at farms where chickens lived in cages or inside crowded barns. 'When we started this business … we weren't thinking about, 'This is going to be the best defense against avian flu.' We were thinking that we wanted to support family farms and that we believed in animal welfare,' explains Cameron Whitehead, chief operating officer for Pete & Gerry's. 'Our model of having family farms across 15 states and fewer hens on each farm insulates us and minimizes how avian influenza impacts us.' You don't need to look further than the colorful carton to see Pete & Gerry's commitment to hen welfare. The girls, as the company sometimes calls them, are raised in free-range or pasture-raised settings, and each family farm in the Pete & Gerry's network is third-party Certified Humane. It's a guarantee that hens were not raised in cages and given opportunities to express their natural behaviors like dustbathing, perching and roaming outdoors. The Willhide Family, one of Pete & Gerry's nearly 300 family farm partners. Including the brand's values and approach to farming on the egg cartons means consumers don't 'need to have a Ph.D. in egg terminology to go shopping in the grocery store,' Rothschild explains. 'There are segments of consumers that place a lot of value on animal welfare and egg quality,' she adds. 'They want to make sure that the claims that they're reading … translate into their own value system.' And now consumers are valuing egg safety much more as bird flu has been blamed for record-setting egg prices and bare store shelves due to limited egg supplies. 'The family farm model has been more resilient,' adds Rothschild. 'This is their family's livelihood. There's hands-on care, and there are people present with the hens all day long making sure that they're protected, both from the flu but also from any other risks that can be associated with the health of the hens.' This unwavering commitment to hen welfare and biosecurity means every time you cook a Pete & Gerry's egg, you get a safe egg and support a farming model that is better for hens, farmers and the environment — and definitely better for breakfast.
Forbes
17-04-2025
- Health
- Forbes
Cracking The Myths: The Truth About Avian Flu, Egg Safety And What Consumers Should Know
Fears about avian influenza have moved faster than pasture-raised hens in search of the juiciest worms. The outbreak has been blamed for high egg prices and supply shortages while also raising concerns that it might not be safe to eat eggs. But consumers shouldn't have to look hard for facts. Although avian influenza is a serious disease for birds, significant safeguards are in place to make sure that eggs from infected chickens don't reach store shelves. With help from Cameron Whitehead, the chief operating officer at Pete & Gerry's, we've identified and busted five bird flu myths to help you make an informed decision when buying your next carton. Avian influenza is a contagious, viral disease that causes symptoms in birds ranging from tremors and misshapen eggs to sudden death. It's spread when chickens come into contact with infected birds or through contaminated water, feed and equipment. Although avian influenza is a serious disease for birds, significant safeguards are in place to make sure that eggs from infected chickens don't reach store shelves. In fact, the chances of it happening are 'almost zero,' Whitehead says. Farms will test their hens 'even with the slightest hint of disease,' he explains. 'And if a flock tests positive, all eggs that were created by that flock are destroyed.' Your omelet is safe. Cooking eggs to an internal temperature of 165 degrees kills viruses, including avian influenza, so go ahead and make eggs however you like them. Handling eggs is safe, too. There is no evidence that eggshells can transmit avian influenza. It is important, however, to follow recommended food handling practices that include storing eggs in the refrigerator and washing your hands and utensils with hot, soapy water after touching raw eggs. While prices for a dozen eggs have reached record highs, Pete & Gerry's has not raised the price of its premium, free-range and pasture-raised eggs in two years. This also goes for its sister brand, Nellie's Free Range Eggs. Whitehead credits the company's family farm model for providing stable prices and a reliable supply chain. The New Hampshire-based Certified B Corporation works with almost 300 family farms in 15 states to produce premium eggs, all of which are Certified Humane. The rigorous, third-party certification guarantees that hens are raised without confinement in conditions that allow them to express natural behaviors like dustbathing, perching and roaming outdoors. On commodity farms, however, chickens are housed in cages or barns with up to 400,000 birds, and each farm can have upwards of 10 barns, he explained. If a single bird is infected with avian influenza, all of the birds on site must be culled, causing egg supplies to go down dramatically and prices to go up. 'Our diversification means that, although [avian influenza] is a tragedy, any impacts have such a minimal overall supply/demand change for us,' Whitehead adds. 'Our pricing has been able to remain very stable.' On Pete & Gerry's family farms, hens roam outside where they can express natural behaviors. It's not uncommon to see empty shelves that should be filled with egg cartons — but avian influenza may be only partly to blame. While the virus has put a significant dent in the supplies of caged and cage-free eggs, causing price hikes, inflation and the increasing cost of chicken feed and other inputs have also made eggs more expensive. Since 2020, the cost to care for livestock has increased 28%, and farmers are spending more on animal feed, marketing, storage and transportation to get eggs to stores. Food inflation, meanwhile, has increased faster than historic averages. Even though Pete & Gerry's is susceptible to rising input costs and inflation like any egg producer, the company hasn't passed those costs on to consumers. Whitehead credits 'the company finding efficiencies and working hard … to make sure that we can keep costs where they are, even with the rising tide of inflation.' The availability and stable pricing of premium eggs during the outbreak has led many consumers to crack their first one. Once people see the deep orange yolks, firm egg whites and taste the superior flavor, many switch over for good. 'They feel good about what they're buying, feel good about supporting a family farm network, and they feel good about the quality of the product,' Whitehead adds. 'When you do that math, it's one of the easiest places to invest in animal welfare and support family farms.' Free-range and pasture-raised hens have access to outdoor spaces to forage for worms in the grass, take dust baths and feel the sunshine on their feathers. Access to the outdoors isn't just associated with better animal welfare; it also appears to protect chickens from avian influenza. The latest data shows that almost 100% of avian influenza outbreaks occurred at farms that housed chickens in cages or in cage-free environments while just 0.1% of outbreaks were on organic farms where chickens were raised in free-range or pasture-raised environments. 'Locking your birds into cages, into large prison-like structures, is not helping you with any of your biosecurity concerns,' Whitehead says. 'Our farmers are actually the best stewards of biosecurity because they have such a vested interest in the health of their birds and success of that flock.'
Yahoo
31-03-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Golden Knights Sign Goaltender To Entry-Level Contract
Photo courtesy of Northeastern University. The Vegas Golden Knights have signed goaltender Cameron Whitehead to a two-year, entry-level contract. The 2022 fourth-round pick (128th overall) completed two years at Northeastern University, posting a 13-17-3 record in 35 games to go along with a .911SV% and a 2.74 GAA. Northeastern beat Boston University in the 2025 Hockey East Semifinal but lost to the University of Maine in the finals. Advertisement Prior to joining Northeastern, the 6'3 netminder played two seasons in the USHL, posting a .899SV% in 74 games. Following his NCAA career, Whitehead will work his way through the Golden Knights' ranks. Carl Lindbom and Akira Schmid have played in 58 of the Henderson Silver Knights' 62 games, although Schmid has struggled. It's undetermined at the moment whether Whitehead will start in the AHL with the Silver Knights or Tahoe Knight Monsters in the ECHL. Stay updated with the most interesting Golden Knights stories, analysis, breaking news and more! Tap the star to add us to your favourites on Google News to never miss a story.
Boston Globe
17-03-2025
- Sport
- Boston Globe
Northeastern upsetting No. 1 Boston College part of a huge weekend for men's college hockey
The upset kept the Huskies' season alive and left open the possibility that as many as 10 teams from New England could qualify for the 16-team field for the NCAA Tournament. It's not likely the number will be that high, of course, but the fact that it is a possibility, less than a week from when the brackets will be announced, indicates it's a good time to be a college hockey fan in these parts. And that's where the weekend review begins. ▪ BC had taken two of the three meetings with Northeastern, including Advertisement They executed the game plan perfectly, clogging up the neutral zone and limiting pucks on net, with 12 Huskies combining to block 20 shots, led by Vinny Borgesi's three. Cameron Whitehead handled the ones that managed to get through, as the sophomore goalie made 30 saves. 'Obviously the game was personal for us, for the last time we played them,' said Whitehead. 'It feels pretty good.' The game was scoreless until Bridgewater native Cam Lund and Joe Connor scored 2:09 apart late in the second period to give the Huskies a lead they would not relinquish. JOE KNOWS PUCK 🚨 📺 — Northeastern Men's Hockey (@GoNUmhockey) ▪ BC is still assured of having the No. 1 overall seed when the pairings are announced on Sunday, and will look to regroup and make some adjustments over the next week. 'I think if teams are going to sit in the neutral zone a lot, we have to get guys skating away from the puck, not just the puck carrier,' said coach Greg Brown. 'I think we did that at times but not as consistently as we'd like to. So we have to do that and just be a little sharper in our execution.' Advertisement ▪ There will be six teams from Hockey East — BC, Maine, Boston University, UConn, Providence, and UMass — headed to the NCAA tournament. It could be seven if Northeastern wins two more games at TD Garden, beginning Thursday against Maine in the nightcap. BU will face UConn in the opener, with the championship on Friday. ▪ Like BC, UMass will look to stay sharp over the next week after 'I'm extremely, extremely proud of our team,' said UMass coach Greg Carvel after the loss. 'I thought we played an outstanding game in a tough place against a very good team on the road. 'We're at a phase where this group knows they can beat anybody, and they'll go home [Saturday] believing it probably a little bit more.' ▪ The Atlantic Hockey America champion will hail from Massachusetts, as Holy Cross and Bentley advanced to Saturday's championship game in Worcester. Bentley finished off a sweep at Sacred Heart with a 3-0 win. Connor Hasley made 26 saves to record his 11th shutout, tied for the second most in a season in NCAA history, and one off the record. Ethan Leyh had a pair of goals for the Falcons in the decisive game. A.J. Hodges had a natural hat trick in the third period of Game 1 to break a 2-2 tie and lead Bentley to the 5-2 win. Advertisement ▪ Holy Cross needed overtime and a pair of goals from Devin Phillips to take Game 1 against Army, 3-2, then saw five players light the lamp in Game 2 to complete the sweep, 5-1. Liam McLinskey had a goal and two assists in the clincher to become the first Crusader to reach 50 points (23 goals, 28 assists) in a season since Tyler McGregor in 2005-06. ▪ Harvard nearly pulled off an upset of its own, pushing Clarkson to the limit in the ECAC quarterfinals before dropping Game 3 in overtime, 2-1. The Crimson had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in Game 1, but Clarkson rallied with a pair of goals, including the winner with 25 seconds remaining. Harvard was able to bounce back in Game 2, rallying from a 2-0 hole to win, 3-2, on Casey Severo's overtime goal. Harvard junior Aku Koskenvuo started all three games, stopping 88 of 95 shots, including 39 saves in Game 3. ▪ Clarkson will face Dartmouth in Lake Placid in the semifinals on Friday. Quinnipiac and Cornell meet in the other semifinal. Quinnipiac finds itself on the right side of the bubble and would inch closer to clinching a spot in the NCAA Tournament with a win on Friday. Clarkson, Cornell, and Dartmouth can only get in with a win in Saturday's championship game. A Dartmouth victory over Quinnipiac in the title game would likely result in both schools qualifying. Follow Andrew Mahoney
Yahoo
05-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Are socially distanced chickens laying more affordable eggs?
Shoppers used to picking up the cheapest eggs at the grocery store may now be reaching for higher-end cartons. That's because bird flu is turbocharging prices of commercially produced eggs, while farmers of pasture-raised hens — who say their practices make for more humane, sustainable and tasty eggs — have largely held their premium prices steady. Grocery shoppers may be noticing the price gap narrow or even invert, in some cases making specialty eggs cheaper than conventional ones. Nationwide, a dozen eggs sold for $4.95 on average in January, up from $2.52 a year earlier, as avian influenza has wiped out poultry flocks and slammed into domestic egg supplies. Through it all, specialty egg distributor Pete & Gerry's says its dozen-egg cartons have been retailing for about $6.99 over the past 18 to 24 months. 'Our prices are extremely stable, which means our retail partners are offering a really, really stable price to consumers,' said Cameron Whitehead, chief operating officer at the New Hampshire-based company that sells eggs from nearly 300 family farms across New England, the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic. Egg cartons come with lots of labels. The U.S. Department of Agriculture designates 'cage-free' and 'free-range' practices as those allowing hens to roam around to some extent indoors, and gain at least limited access to an outdoor enclosure, respectively. 'Pasture-raised' eggs, which aren't federally regulated, generally means the chickens can leave the barn and venture out to graze and scratch. The 'organic' label can apply to any of these and also refers to what the chickens were fed. Hens that have room to scamper aren't any more resistant to bird flu than those that don't. But farming practices can make a difference in how the illness spreads, experts say, even if there are some trade-offs. 'The source of the virus is in the wild birds, so pasture-raised birds would have an increased risk of exposure,' said Andrew Bowman, a professor of veterinary medicine at Ohio State University who studies animal influenza. Fully confined egg farms use netting to keep out wild birds, he said, but if the virus does enter those facilities, it can spread like wildfire among chickens kept in cramped quarters. Larger operations also tend to require staff and equipment that are shared with other facilities, elevating the risk of spread between farms. But no matter the setup, USDA guidelines require the entire flock to be killed if bird flu is detected even once. The disease has affected large and small egg producers alike, but smaller and organic operators say their prices aren't as influenced by supply and demand swings compared with the commercial market. So far, Pete & Gerry's has seen minimal impact to its supply, despite the occasional farm hit by bird flu, Whitehead said. The company pays for farmers' birds and feed, and it offers a set price for their eggs, creating a measure of stability that Whitehead said small family farms — generally those with flocks of fewer than 20,000 hens — appreciate amid the outbreak. Larry Schultz, a longtime egg farmer in Owatonna, Minnesota, said prices for his organic, free-range eggs mainly reflect input costs like cartons and feed. Those expenses have also increased with inflation, albeit more predictably than supply and demand, he said. When bird flu hit a larger facility in Schultz's county in 2023, he said it felt like dodging a bullet. 'It's not like anybody is immune to it,' he cautioned. About half of the flocks hit by bird flu since 2022 have fewer than 1,000 hens, and roughly 70% number under 30,000, according to USDA data. (The department said its bird flu data isn't broken down by production types like 'organic' or 'pasture-raised.') Like much of the nation's agricultural sector, the egg industry has consolidated over time. Fewer than 150 commercial egg farms with flocks of at least 75,000 now house over 95% of egg-laying hens, the United Egg Producers trade group estimates. Among large operators, at least three in Indiana, Ohio and North Carolina, each with over 250,000 hens, have been affected by bird flu so far just this year. Organic and cage-free egg farmers produce only 15% of the nation's eggs, UEP estimates, and many of them say they're struggling to meet rising demand as their products become more price-competitive. But that isn't stopping some from touting what they say is a more ethical approach to the business. Some farms and retailers have been advertising pasture-raised eggs as exempt from 'price gouging' that they blame on the commercial approach. 'I think the industry probably needs to take note,' said Matt Watson, who sells eggs from his family farm in Chester, South Carolina. 'Look at the pastured model and see if they could pick up anything that would help to protect our food supply.' Watson said he embraced more sustainable farming methods in 2007 after trying conventional ones and now raises all his animals on open pasture. He's convinced that growers, animals and consumers are all better off, though he acknowledged it usually costs more to farm this way. His eggs currently retail for around $7.25 a dozen, but he hopes the ongoing shortage spurs more consumers to take a closer look. 'It becomes more appealing to people if they're going to pay a pretty high price for eggs anyway,' he said, adding that many customers will stick with pasture-raised for the taste once they've tried them. Despite adding roughly 50 farms to its network last year, Pete & Gerry's still isn't able to meet demand, Whitehead said, but the specialty distributor is hardly alone. The USDA forecasts a 1.3% in table egg production from 2024 to 2025. Stocks of frozen eggs in storage plummeted about 42% late last year, which the agency said is likely because distributors tapped into those supplies to offset fresh egg losses. There's no easy substitute for eggs, which makes demand for them inelastic — meaning consumers and businesses generally buy the same amount no matter the cost. That's exacerbating the price spiral, as customers bid up remaining supplies out of proportion with the shortage. The U.S. egg-hen flock is down about 50 million birds, or 15%, from its usual level, according to the American Egg Board, which represents egg farmers. Prices, however, have nearly doubled since January 2024. Schultz said he had to raise prices recently, which he said he doesn't do very often. One baker he sells to told NBC News last month that Schultz's eggs are now more affordable than commercially produced ones, despite the price increase. 'All of a sudden, you look back and say, 'Wait a minute, I'm the cheapest one on the shelf,'' Schultz said, adding that his small organic farm is seeing demand through the roof. That's been heartening, but he isn't interested in scaling up. 'I'm not looking to be a commercial egg grower,' he said. 'I'm looking to just do what I grew up doing.' This article was originally published on
