TURNER – Radlo Foods will move all of its egg harvesting operations out of town by May 15, according to a draft of a transition plan released Wednesday.

“We’re just developing the plan right now, but we’re trying to be as transparent about things as possible,” said Dave Radlo, president and chief executive officer of Massachusetts-based Radlo Foods.

Radlo said his company would continue to take deliveries of eggs from one plant at Maine Contract Farming – part of the former DeCoster egg farm on Plains Road – for the next 30 days.

The company ceased taking eggs from one plant on that same farm days after a national animal rights group released videotape of employees mistreating chickens. That led to an April 1 raid by state agriculture officials.

Radlo said his company would continue to supply Maine retail stores with eggs from its Ohio and Pennsylvania farms and from operations in Winthrop.

“We will have to find another facility outside of the Turner facility and we are working on that,” Radlo said. “But right now, we’re trying to keep the lines of communication as open as possible and be very transparent about this process.”

Radlo Foods ships 800 million eggs per year across the country and to Puerto Rico, Cuba and Hong Kong.

The company plans to transition to all cage-free-bred eggs over the next 10 years. It announced that decision after the April 1 raid on the Turner farms. Reaction to that announcement has been good, Radlo said.

“I’ve been energized by people’s comments, and it makes me confident that we can make the transition to all cage-free eggs,” he said.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.