SOMERVILLE — A day after animal welfare groups launched a 2016 ballot measure that would mandate Massachusetts farms and businesses produce and sell only eggs from cage-free hens — a push opponents insist would raise food prices — shoppers here were split.
Some said Thursday the chicken comes first, and that it’s only decent to require cage-free conditions for hens.
Others said the egg comes first, the low-priced egg, that is.
And yet others, grappling with a question with which they were not yet familiar, said they wanted animals to be treated humanely and wanted low-priced groceries too.
David Golber said he had read about the initiative, which would also prohibit production and sale of pork from pigs raised in or born of a sow raised in a small crate, and veal from calves raised in a small crate.
On balance, the 70-year-old Cambridge resident explained as he loaded groceries into his car at the Market Basket on Somerville Avenue, he would probably back it, should the initiative make the ballot. The ways some animals are raised, he believes, constitute cruelty.
“Of course it’ll raise prices some,” he said of the ballot push, “but, personally, where I’m at, I think I can pay that.”
He said that people “at the bottom of the income scale” would be particularly stung by the predicted price hikes, but “we should compensate those people in a different way.”
Opponents of the measure, including a group representing egg producers, said it’s sure to raise prices because cage-free eggs are more expensive to produce. But proponents, including the Humane Society of the United States, say consumers have no reason to fear a price spike and, by the time the requirements would go into effect in 2022, cage-free egg producers will be the norm, anyway.
Abdi Mukhtar, a 30-something of Charlestown, said he’s already noticed egg prices going up recently. Told about the proposed ballot question, he said: “That’s crazy, man.”
He said he wanted to learn more about the bid, but will vote against it if it raises prices.
He spoke to a reporter after perusing the Market Basket egg selection, which included eggs priced at $2.79 per dozen as well as cage-free, organic eggs, for $3.89 per dozen. He put the cheaper dozen in his cart.
Sarah Meister, a 33-year-old who lives on the Somerville-Cambridge line, said she only buys cage-free eggs. “That’s a privilege I can afford right now, and I don’t know what choice I would make if I weren’t in that position,” she said.
Asked about the proposed measure, she looked conflicted. She said it’s a difficult issue, thought about it for a few moments, and said she would vote in favor of it. It’s “important that we get our food from ethical sources,” she said.
Proponents of the push, in a coalition called Citizens for Farm Animal Protection, insist the ballot effort is limited.
They say the question, which will need to overcome legal and signature-gathering hurdles to get on the ballot, just establishes modest standards to protect farm animals from cruelty and makes sure they can lie down, stand up, fully extend their limbs, and turn around.
Agricultural interests blast it as diminishing consumer choice and unnecessary to protect animal welfare. Both sides could spend heavily trying to influence voters.
Near the egg section in a Star Market in Somerville, with a sign warning “costs have increased significantly in recent weeks,” Gavin Richards didn’t like the idea of a one-or-the-other choice on the initiative.
“Being an engineer, I’d want to know more about exactly what the costs were and what the actual sides were because binary choices are never the reality,” the Cambridge resident said. And, for now, he didn’t have enough information to make a decision.
Back at the Market Basket, Eleanor Haley, 81 this month, of Somerville said she buys eggs once a week and spent a long time looking at all her choices.
Asked about the initiative, she said she supported protecting chickens and would be against anything that would raise the price of eggs.
But, Haley indicated, the important choice was not for or against the proposed initiative; but something more elemental.
“I hate the white eggs. They taste terrible,” she said. “I will not eat the white eggs.”
Joshua Miller can be reached at joshua.miller@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @jm_bos.