Michigan AG to Kroger: Stores need clearer signage for caged-free eggs

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has called on The Kroger Co. to better distinguish between cage-free and caged eggs in its in-store signage.

In a letter to Kroger Chairman and CEO Rodney McMullen, Michigan AG division chief Jason Evans said a report titled “Cracking Down on Kroger,” from progressive think tank Data for Progress, found in a poll of Kroger customers that “the company’s marketing of caged chicken eggs is both confusing and misleading.”

The Data for Progress study cited feedback from Kroger shoppers that the use of egg product labels such as “Farm Fresh” and “Grade A” in the grocer’s Michigan stores didn’t reflect the caged versus cage-free status of the eggs, according to the Michigan AG. What’s more, the report said, such labeling doesn’t “have a relationship with the method by which the chickens that laid them were raised” and, based on Kroger customers surveyed, creates “both uncertainty and misperceptions surrounding label meanings.”

Of 646 Kroger shoppers polled in January by Data for Progress, 41% think the “Farm Fresh” label designates egg-laying hens not confined in cages (with 14% believing the chickens are caged), while 20% thin “Grade A” labeling means the eggs are from cage-free chickens (with 26% believing the chickens are caged).

“[The] report indicates that Kroger shoppers are being misled into buying eggs from caged hens wrongly thinking they are cage-free,” Evans wrote in the letter to Kroger.

Cincinnati-based Kroger, the nation’s largest supermarket retailer, denied the Michigan AG’s and the Data for Progress report’s claims that its store signage for cage-free eggs was misleading.

“The Kroger Co. of Michigan complies with all current state regulations regarding the sale of egg products,” Kroger said in an email statement on Tuesday. “All Kroger Family of Companies egg products are clearly marked and labeled for customers to readily decipher among our product selection.”

In its report, Data for Progress said 53% of Kroger shoppers polled would like the retailer to post signage indicating which eggs come from caged chickens and which come from cage-free chickens.

In late 2021, Kroger unveiled plans for the "world’s first carbon-neutral, cage-free eggs” through a partnership with MPS Egg Farms, using the Kipster system from The Netherlands. / Photos: Kroger/Kipster

“Grocery shoppers throughout the state should be able to decipher and trust the advertising in whichever grocer they shop,” Nessel said in a statement. “Grocers must be transparent and honest in their in-store marketing. It is troubling to read reports saying that is not what all customers are experiencing.”

Evans said in his letter to Kroger that cage-free eggs will become the standard in Michigan within two years. “Being clear about which eggs are from caged hens is particularly important in Michigan, as Michigan law will prohibit—beginning in 2025—the sale of eggs from caged hens,” he wrote.

Pointing to the Data for Progress study, the Michigan AG noted that in 2016 Kroger pledged to sell cage-free eggs exclusively by 2025 and, through 2021, was on track to meet that commitment. However, in August 2022, Kroger issued an animal welfare policy update that said the company wouldn’t achieve its 2025 goal—due to “the current rate of supplier transition and our customers’ demand for affordability”—but expects to transition about 70% of eggs sold to cage-free or higher standards by 2030.

“We will strive for continued progress beyond 2030, expected in large part from our investment to bring the innovative Kipster Farms system from The Netherlands to the U.S., depending on customer engagement,” Kroger stated in the policy update.

In December 2021, Kroger unveiled a plan to bring what it called “the world’s first carbon-neutral, cage-free eggs to retail shelves in the U.S.” through a partnership with current vendor MPS Egg Farms, using the proprietary Kipster system from The Netherlands, with the eggs sold under Kroger’s Simple Truth better-for-you brand.