There’s no ‘eggscuse’ for bargain retailers not to go cage free!

Published 14/11/2019

We are urging the UK’s three largest bargain retailers - Poundland, B&M, and Home Bargains - to commit to a cage free future for hens.

Cage free revolution

Since 2015, a huge wave of food businesses across the globe have pledge to go cage free. All the UK’s major supermarket chains have either stopped selling eggs from caged hens or have pledged to go cage free by 2025 and many popular restaurant chains, including Frankie & Bennie’s, Café Rouge and Pizza Express, have also made cage free commitments. We now calling on Poundland, B&M, and Home Bargains to join the cage free revolution too.

Around 16 million laying hens in the UK are currently kept in cages. These animals will spend almost their entire lives confined, with barely enough room to spread their wings.

Cheap eggs – high price

Unfortunately, despite the market shifting towards higher animal welfare standards, Poundland, B&M and Home Bargains still sell eggs from caged hens. We have written to these retailers on multiple occasions over recent months, but disappointingly they have failed to make a cage free commitment.

“These so called cheap eggs may seem like a good deal, but they come at a high price to the millions of hens confined in cages,” says Natasha Smith, our UK Campaigns Manager. “We must ensure there is no market for caged eggs anywhere in Britain – otherwise, the cage free pledges made by the UK’s largest retailers in recent years could be undermined.”

“Caged eggs on any store shelf will mean millions of hens may continue to live a life of misery, year after year.”