Global food manufacturer General Mills has announced that it will source its eggs from 100% cage-free chickens for all of its brands, such as Pillsbury, Betty Crocker, and more, by the year 2025.
This new policy will apply to products sold in more than 100 countries, including Japan, Germany, Australia, Israel, and Mexico.
The company's US and Canadian operations had previously pledged a nationwide cage-free policy in 2015.
In a statement, General Mills commented, 'Eggs are an important ingredient in many of our products, and we strive to ensure that the hens laying these eggs are treated humanely'.
'We believe that by striving for sustainable sourcing for all our animal ingredients, we will create the environment for more humane treatments of animals globally.'
The Open Wing Alliance
The Open Wing Alliance (OWA) lauded this decision, and chalked it up as another success of the world's largest cage-free campaign, which it launched on 14 February.
The alliance is a worldwide coalition started by The Humane League at the first Global Summit to End Cages in 2016, which was held in Poland and attended by 17 of OWA’s member organisations from 22 countries around the globe.
"As one of the world’s leading food companies, General Mills’ announcement will hopefully influence other prominent global players to produce similar policies," said David Coman-Hidy, executive director of The Humane League.
"Following the success of this campaign, Open Wing Alliance Members will continue to work together to ensure a cage-free future for hens across the globe."
The Human League is a grassroots group which aims to stop the practice of caging hens world-wide, and has previously extracted global pledges from such large companies as Sodexo, Grupo Bimbo, Lidl, and PepsiCo.
Retailers such as Groupe Casino, Tesco UK, and Iceland Foods have also made commitments to eliminate battery eggs in recent months.
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Karen Henderson. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine.
