MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Retailer Target has joined fast-food chain McDonald's in dropping one of the nation's largest egg suppliers.
The decision came after an animal rights group released an undercover video made at the egg producer's operations in three states.
The video from Mercy for Animals showed cases of animal cruelty at Sparboe Farms facilities in Iowa, Minnesota, and Colorado. The images included a worker swinging a bird around by its feet, hens packed into cramped cages, male chicks being tossed into plastic bags to suffocate and workers cutting off the tips of chicks' beaks.
McDonald's and Target called such conditions "unacceptable."
Sparboe produces 300 million eggs a year in regular, liquid, frozen and dried form, and ships them to restaurants across the country.
Sparboe says it was "shocked and deeply disturbed" by the video, and will create a task force to review the company's food safety and animal care.