INLAND EMPIRE--California eggs, a staple on most breakfast menus, may soon join a growing list of imported commodities.

Proposition 2 on the November ballot regulates the treatment of farm animals. If it passes, egg-laying hens would be freed from their cages. Corresponding costs would force many egg farmers out of business.

University of California Professor Dan Sumner studied the issue and said the “bottom line” for consumers is clear.

“We’ll be buying our eggs from Iowa or Minnesota or somewhere else and the California egg industry will be out of business.”

About 3,000 people work for California egg producers.

Riverside County is the State’s number-one egg-producer.

Story Date: July 27, 2008