A new EggTrack report released today (8 July) by Compassion in World Farming assessed 852 commitments across 602 business entities[1] to see if cage-free pledges from the most influential food companies have been met. While strong progress was found, the report calls for urgent action from companies falling behind.

Key findings:

Average cage-free transition stands at 85%, reflecting a steady and measurable increase from 75% reported in the last Global EggTrack in 2023.
To date, more than 160 million hens are benefiting from being cage-free each year (based on data from 117 commitments)
Nearly 30% of businesses (168) are now fully cage-free across all egg categories in their supply chain. 71 businesses achieving this milestone since the 2023 Global EggTrack, including Compass Group UK&IRE, Caffè Nero, Greggs, The Restaurant Group plc, and Tesco UK.
Of 415 commitments with a 2025 deadline, 48% (198) have been fulfilled, with a further 29% at least 75% of the way to cage-free.
The UK continues to perform well, with an average transition of 97% across 71 reporting commitments. However, only 31 of the 49 companies tracked have successfully completed their cage-free transition across all egg categories.
217 commitments remain unmet — 112 with progress reporting, but 80 have no updated reporting at all, including Mars (Global), Sonic Drive in (US), Dunkin Brands Inc (US), and Aldi Sud (Global).

In the UK retail sector, Aldi UK, Lidl GB and Tesco UK have now achieved 100% cage-free status, joining Waitrose, M&S, Co-op and Sainsbury’s, who met their commitments before 2025. ASDA has reached full cage-free sourcing across its own-brand shell eggs and egg products, but is urged to move to cage-free branded shell eggs in line with its competitors. Meanwhile, Morrisons continues to make progress, achieving 100% for shell eggs and 92% for egg products. However, progress is not universal. Iceland has delayed its deadline to 2027 without reporting on its progress for 2025, while SPAR (UK) has removed its public commitment altogether, and Compassion calls on the company to urgently reinstate a clear, time-bound pledge.

The two UK producers included in EggTrack, Noble Foods and LJ Fairburn & Son, have extended their deadlines to 2026 but are close to completion, reaching 95% and 89% cage-free production respectively.

Despite significant progress from food companies, almost 6 million hens are still confined in so-called 'enriched' cages every year across the UK. Trapped with little more space than an A4 sheet of paper each, hens can't perform even the most basic of natural behaviours, such as foraging, dustbathing, seeing the light of day, or fully stretching their wings. This is why it’s imperative that UK businesses carry out their commitments to go cage-free and the UK Government delivers on the pledge in its Animal Welfare Strategy to phase out cages for laying hens.

Europe also continues to make strong progress with an average cage-free transition of 94% (from 377 commitments), up from 80% in 2023. This progress is supported by a mature market and an evolving legislative landscape, with proposals to ban cages for laying hens in Europe expected by the end of 2026.

Global commitments have also advanced, with the average cage-free transition rising from 64% in 2023 to 79% in 2025 (from 117 companies). Twelve global companies are fully cage-free across all their egg categories, including five that achieved full transition since the 2023 Global EggTrack: Pizza Express (Restaurants) Limited, Caffè Nero, The Cheesecake Factory, IKEA Food, and Conagra Brands, Inc.

USA and Canada continue to make moderate progress, reaching 81% average cage-free transition in 2025 (from 116 commitments), compared to 73% in 2023 for the US market alone. Progress in the Asia-Pacific region has plateaued at 58% (a slight increase from 55% in 2023).

Concerningly, some companies are weakening their commitments instead of delivering them. Of the 852 commitments tracked, 61 have pushed back their deadlines - although 21 of these have published revised timelines toward full compliance. Even more disappointingly, 29 businesses have removed their deadlines (but retained their commitment), while 50 have withdrawn their cage-free pledges entirely, including Spar (UK & IRE), Prezzo Restaurants (UK & IRE), Bidfood (EU & NZ), Unilever (Global), Krispy Kreme Doughnuts (Global), and Metro AG (Global).

EggTrack 2025 highlights both meaningful progress and a clear need for urgent action. While many companies have met their commitments, too many have missed deadlines, weakened pledges or withdrawn them entirely, undermining accountability and falling short of consumer expectations. These companies are also moving against the global shift toward cage-free eggs and the evolving legislative framework in many parts of the world.

Dr Tracey Jones, Global Director of Food Business at Compassion in World farming, said:

EggTrack 2025 marks a defining moment for corporate cage-free commitments. Businesses continue to lead the way, particularly in Europe, but strong legislation is essential to level the playing field—ensuring the whole industry delivers a cage-free future.

Companies falling behind must act now with urgency to progress towards their commitment deadlines and those that have dropped commitments must reinstate them immediately. With legislative momentum building and the rising global trend towards cage-free, companies have a clear opportunity—and responsibility—to turn promises into action and consign cages to the history books for good.

Compassion in World Farming urges all companies that have missed their 2025 deadline to take swift action to complete their transition in 2026. Companies that have dropped their commitments must urgently reinstate them, publish clear and time-bound transition plans, and report transparently on their progress. This includes working closely with suppliers, embedding cage-free requirements into procurement policies, investing in supply chain development, and reporting progress transparently.

EggTrack will continue to provide independent scrutiny and drive progress until cage-free systems are fully realised for laying hens worldwide.

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For more information please email media.team@ciwf.org or call +44 (0)1483 521 615

Notes to Editors:

Compassion in World Farming’s international Food Business programme aims to achieve a holistic approach to sustainable food production by driving transformational change for farm animals, reducing our reliance on animal sourced foods, and moving the food industry towards more regenerative, nature friendly farming.
Compassion’s EggTrack monitors the progress of the world's largest food companies in meeting their voluntary cage-free egg commitments, across different regions (Europe, Asia-Pacific, USA & Canada).

Footnote:

Some companies operate multiple national entities under a single corporate group (e.g., Carrefour France and Carrefour Poland are separate entities of the same company). Each entity sets and reports on its own commitments to cage-free, so our EggTrack analysis refers to entities rather than companies. Global entities are reported as companies.

UK companies lead on transition to cage-free eggs