Albertsons pledges all cage-free eggs by 2025

Citing animal welfare concerns as well as customer buying habits, Albertsons announced it would work with suppliers to source only cage-free eggs for all stores by 2025, based on available supply.

“We take our commitment to providing responsibly sourced products seriously, and that responsibility extends naturally into ensuring our suppliers uphold humane animal welfare practices,” Shane Sampson, chief marketing and merchandising officer, said in a press release. “The transition to cage-free eggs will help us continue to provide a great, humane product to our customers while ensuring that our suppliers have ample time to prepare their operations to meet increased demand from retailers.”

Albertsons, headquartered in Boise, Idaho, encompasses more than 2,200 stores, meaning the changes it dictates in the supply chain could have outsize impact.

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The retailer said it has significantly expanded offerings like organic, free-range and cage-free eggs in recent years to meet customer demand.

Other retailers have recently made similar pledges on cage-free eggs. Last month, Trader Joe’s also promised to go cage-free for all its eggs by 2025, according to the Chicago Tribune, while Target made the same commitment in January, Fortune reports.

Also in February, Ahold said it would source only cage-free eggs for its private label shell eggs by 2022, while Supervalu said last August that its Wild Harvest brand would exclusively source cage-free eggs by the end of 2015.