More great news for hens!

Published 25/07/2016

Today is a fantastic day for egg laying hens, with supermarket retailer Iceland and international food service company Sodexo, pledging to go cage-free by 2025.

Following the wave of US retailers committing to a cage free future, several international and UK retailers have begun to follow suit.

A strong signal

We have worked in partnership with Sodexo alongside the Humane Society International and The Humane League on this worldwide cage free commitment which includes both shell and liquid eggs.

Dr Tracey Jones, our Director of Food Business, says: “We congratulate Sodexo on their commitment to source only cage free eggs. This sends a strong signal to the global food industry that the end of the cage in modern, humane farming systems is inevitable.

“We hope this leading policy motivates other large international companies to follow suit and improve the lives of the millions of laying hens in their supply chains."

Another step to a cage free future

Iceland’s announcement to go cage free on whole shell eggs, follows recent pledges from Tesco and Aldi. However other UK retailers, including Asda, Morrisons and Lidl, continue to sell eggs from caged hens.

In April, Walmart, the largest grocer in the US, announced its commitment to switch to 100% cage-free eggs by 2025. However, despite being owned by Walmart, Asda, the second largest supermarket in Britain, has yet to commit to phasing out cages for hens.

Philip Lymbery, our CEO, says: “It’s really exciting that so many retailers are taking steps towards a cage free future for hens. We are, slowly but surely, moving towards the end of cages for laying hens here in the UK.”

“Despite this positive action, the timescales proposed by retailers are lengthy. Unfortunately large scale changes like these cannot be made overnight and there are some legitimate obstacles that retailers, such as Iceland, need to overcome in order to phase out caged eggs. While I appreciate the challenges which come with a shift to cage free eggs, I believe some retailers are able to bring this timeline forward.”