UK companies are leading the way in transitioning to cage-free eggs, with around 75% of the market already cage-free, a new report has revealed.
Compassion in World Farming's EggTrack 2024 report includes in-country company ‘spotlights’ to showcase how companies in the UK, France, Italy, Spain and Poland are progressing toward their 2025 commitments.
The so-called spotlights identify companies as 'leaders' (already 100% cage-free), 'in progress' (on track to reach 100% by 2025), 'at risk' (of missing the 2025 deadline) and 'laggards' (have a commitment but are not reporting or have regressed on their progress).
The UK spotlight comprises 40 companies with 19 featured as leaders, including Waitrose, M&S, Sainsbury’s, The Co-operative Food, Greggs, McDonald’s and Pizza Express.
Seven companies have been identified as 'in progress', including Tesco and Whitbread, while Asda and Lidl are amongst the 11 companies 'at risk'.
Laggards include One Stop, Greene King, and SPAR (UK) Ltd.
Dr Tracey Jones, global director of food business at Compassion in World Farming stated, “To get hens out of cages, the UK Government must step up and enact legislation that supports market transition and drives the change needed for all food companies to only source and sell cage-free eggs and ends the production of caged eggs in the UK once and for all.”
Other Countries
In France, 70% of the market is already cage-free. The study identifies 10 companies as leaders including Danone Group, Pret A Manger, and McDonald’s France.
Nine companies were found to be 'in progress' including Aldi France, Groupe Casino and LDC. Elsewhere, 12 were listed 'at risk' and nine as laggards.
The Italian market is 66% cage-free, with 11 companies, including Barilla, Aldi Italy and Lidl Italy recognised as leaders. Seven were found to be 'in progress', including Carrefour Italy, Ferrero and Gruppo Selex, while five were listed as laggards.
In Poland, only two companies were listed as leaders - Biedronka and Zabka.
With only 30% of the market cage-free, five companies were identified as 'in progress' including Carrefour and Lidl.
The cage-free market in Spain has reached 33% with only three companies listed as leaders - GB Foods, Grupo Avícola Rujamar and Lidl Espana.
EggTrack Report
Several years ago, Compassion in World Farming launched its EggTrack report to monitor the progress of the world’s largest food companies in meeting their voluntary cage-free egg commitments.
It includes shell eggs (own-brand and branded) and egg products across global regions (US, Europe and the UK and Asia-Pacific).
EggTrack not only recognises these commitments but also promotes market transparency by encouraging year-on-year progress reporting on the transition to cage-free eggs, Compassion in World Farming added.
