Here is what their web site says.
6. A Note About Eggs
At Trader Joe's we listen to what our customers tell us about the choices we give them. Thanks to their valued feedback, in 2005 we made an important change in our egg selection. As of this time, all Trader Joe's brand eggs come only from cage-free hens. Now customers looking for cage-free eggs need to look no further than the Trader Joe's label. Any conventional eggs sold in our stores are in a brand name carton, not under the Trader Joe's label.
But are they really free-range eggs? I looked online and all I could find was this article on The Vegetarian Site. Here's what they say about Trader Joe's eggs (definitely does not sound humane to me.)
Trader Joe's, a national specialty grocer, offers a large range of vegan and soy products. They also offer "Cage Free" eggs. None of the employees at my local store could offer any information concerning the welfare of the hens. However, I did get a response from corporate headquarters: "The hens live in barns with some access to the outdoors. They are debeaked because that is necessary to keep them from injuring each other." If, in fact, Trader Joe's deems debeaking as necessary, then this immediately reveals the high density of birds. Under a true free range setting, hens can establish a "pecking order" and none is in danger so long as she can move easily to a different area. Under a high-stress, high-density environment, a natural pecking order cannot be established and the sharp beaks of hens can result in injury (and death) to large numbers of birds.
