Published 13/07/2016

Compassion in World Farming hugely congratulates Tesco on their announcement to stop sourcing whole shell eggs from caged hens by 2025. With 43% of the 1.4 billion eggs sold by Tesco each year currently coming from hens in cages, we estimate their commitment will benefit the lives of more than 2 million laying hens per year.

Tesco’s commitment reflects a leadership position over the remaining UK retailers that still sell caged eggs such as Asda, Morrison’s, Lidl and Aldi. With 28% of the market share in the UK, this move to drive cages out of modern egg production must surely signal the end of cages for laying hens in the UK.

Nearly 20 million laying hens in the UK are kept in cages, denying them some of the most basic behaviours and depriving them of a life worth living.

Compassion has been engaging with Tesco for almost 20 years. We look forward to continuing our strong relationship developed over the last few years, to ensure the production system changes required to go cage-free will give hens a good quality of life in rich and stimulating environments.

Philip Lymbery, Compassion in World Farming’s CEO, says: “It is fantastic that Tesco are to go cage-free by 2025 and I would like to congratulate them for their bold commitment, and for doing the right thing for laying hens. I hope that this will be the catalyst needed for all other UK retailers to follow Tesco’s lead and phase out cages for good.”

ENDS

Notes to Editor:

In April, Walmart, the largest grocer in the US, announced their 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.

In May, Aldi pledged to begin phasing out eggs from caged hens in 2025, and to have 100% cage-free eggs by 2030. Whilst Compassion in World Farming welcomed this positive move, the extended timescale was disappointing.