The Five Freedoms Ignored:
Why Partnership with Daesang Raises
Serious Ethical Concerns
This photo is representative of the standard industrial farming practices permitted in the company’s supply chain.Photo: Stefano Belacchi / Animal Welfare Observatory / We Animals
These are among the Five Freedoms that define humane treatment for farm animals – standards supported by more than 90% of the public.
While many leading companies are adopting these principles in their own operations and partnerships, LX International continues to associate with Daesang – a brand known for allowing extreme cruelty in its animal supply chain.
From hens trapped in small cages for their entire lives, unable to spread their wings or engage in natural behaviors, to birds suffering from weakened bones and chronic pain due to extreme confinement, animals in Daesang’s supply chain endure conditions that systematically violate the Five Freedoms. These practices have been widely documented and condemned by animal welfare experts, yet Daesang has failed to implement meaningful policies to eliminate them.
While LX International may not be directly responsible for these actions, continuing to support Daesang through partnership helps enable this cruelty to persist. In today’s world, association comes with accountability.
Consumers are increasingly scrutinizing not just individual brands but the entire ecosystem that supports them. By maintaining a partnership with a company that refuses to adopt basic animal welfare policies – such as a transition to cage-free eggs – LX International risks damaging its own reputation and losing the trust of ethically conscious consumers.
The decision to stand by Daesang in the face of public outcry and documented abuse sends a message: that profits matter more than principles.
But there’s still time to change course.
Behind the eggs served by Daesang lies a grim reality of suffering.
Hens are crammed into tiny, barren battery cages so restrictive that the birds can’t spread their wings, turn around, or exhibit any of their natural behaviors. These sentient animals are reduced to mere egg-laying machines, enduring a lifetime of misery standing on wire floors that can cut into their feet and leave their bodies bruised and featherless. Packed so tightly, hens often injure each other out of stress and frustration.
Even the basics of life are denied.
With no access to dust bathing, perches, or fresh air, these intelligent and curious animals are trapped in a world devoid of stimulation and comfort.
The stress and overcrowding can lead to severe health issues, including brittle bones that fracture easily and uterine prolapse from the relentless egg production. Many hens die in their cages, their decomposing bodies left among the living until workers remove them.
In this system, nearly every one of the Five Freedoms is breached: hens are denied freedom from discomfort, freedom from pain, injury, and disease, freedom to express normal behavior, and freedom from fear and distress.Yet Daesang permits its suppliers to continue using these barbaric systems.
LX International has an opportunity to be a leader, not a bystander. By publicly urging Daesang to align with the Five Freedoms, or reevaluating its business relationship altogether, SKC can help drive meaningful change for animals – and earn the respect of a public that increasingly demands it.
Daesang has the power and responsibility to stop permitting these extreme cruelties in its supply chain. The public expects better, and animals deserve to live free from this egregious and unnecessary suffering.
It’s time for Daesang to do what many other leading food companies have already done and put policies in place that ensure the Five Freedoms for animals in its supply chain.
